Hi all, I am a new sitter and after a few lovely short sits I would like to apply for a longer one in August. I can see some of them are being advertised now but they seem to be going quickly. Will I still see many more? Or most of them are taken by now?
When you should start looking for Christmas/New Year house sit? Are there usually many of them?
It depends if you are strict on which location you want. There are plenty of sits that come up on a daily basis. Some are last minute ones, and some are way in advance.
There’s a mix of everything on this site. But if you know you want a sit in August and at Christmas then I’d be looking sooner rather than later, and that way you can find the perfect sit for you, simply because you have more time to look. But yes, sits go quickly, you have to be ready to apply for them as soon as you can (same day… or same hour if it’s a tourist destination).
Our latest booking ahead of time that we have is Oct 2025, which is one and half years away. But we’ve had plenty of last minute sits in the past too.
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There is no one-size-fits-all answer to your question. It depends on many factors, including what kind of planner you and the host are. I’ve noticed that many interesting sits (to me) are listed only 2-3 weeks before the sit. Given that this could be a risky wait, do you have the patience (and ability to keep your cool) to wait for them?
However, if you´d like to go (say) Australia next year for 3 or more months it might be a good idea to begin to look (or list) now
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Christmas sits are the easiest to get: lots of supply from HOs, little demand from sitters. So wait until you see something that you really really like: the dates, the location, the pets. In the northern hemisphere it is not the best time for walking dogs, so maybe wait for listings with “just a cat”. Last Christmas, I was in Stockholm for three weeks, an indoor cat, close to the center.
New dates of listings will come up until right the last moment.
It will help if you have at least one good THS review before that. Last-minute sits must be quickest to get. I applied for a short sit in Brighton that came out late last night, starting on Friday. A quick video chat, and got it confirmed within an hour.
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I did some research on this last Sept - this is what I found at the time.
There are always a surplus of Christmas sits that don’t get filled
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