Sitters that are full-time

[Victory]

If you are full time or planning on becoming full time, especially single moms traveling with little ones!
-How did you handle family members and their fears of what could go wrong? Etc
-How did y’all come to the conclusion to become full-time and that this was the best path for you?
-What are some ways you bring in income for basic necessities?

[Carla]

@Victory There are many full-time sitters on here from all walks of life so I am sure you will get lots of feedback and help.

What an exciting thing to be considering

Here are some topics that can help answer some of your questions:

Fully Nomadic Sitters

Hello! I’m curious for those sitters who are fully nomadic. Do you have a home you own/rent still while traveling full time? If not, what do you use for mail purposes and the address you fill out for any documents, etc.? Happy travels!

Nomad's Travel Talk - Passports, Visas and Mail Handling

I have a question for those sitters who travel extensively. How do you handle your mail delivery? Putting mine on hold is not an option and since I move from place to place I’m finding it difficult to have it forwarded to another address. Any suggestions/ideas?

Filling the gaps for nomads that go from sit to sit

Hello it’s Robin again I am exploring the idea of letting go of my apt lease ( just getting so expensive) and hopefully finding enough sits to fill in the gaps. I did full time RV for 3 years so I am kind of familiar with the lifestyle and absolutely loved it! But I no longer own that Rv. The big hiccup is the gaps. Other than family and friends to stay with Airbnb even monthly reduced rates are so crazy expensive. Just putting the discussion out here to hear others experiences an…

Happy housesitting!

[Victory]

Thank you for providing these resources!

[Debbie]

@Victory here is another topic about remote work ideas

https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/remote-work-ideas/14446

[Victory]

Thank you Debbie!!

[KC1102]

Hi Victory

If you have family members who are expressing reservations about your choice, I would say not to put too much effort into trying to defend your decisions or explain yourself. They have their own filter based on their own beliefs and experiences, and no matter what you say, they may still maintain their opinion.

While it is true some of the things they may be concerned about could happen, that doesn’t mean housesitting is a bad idea. Any path or life choice comes with their unique risks and challenges. Having been a housesitter for almost 10 years pretty much full time this whole time, my experience has been overwhelmingly positive and I have never run into any serious problems.

If their questioning is bothering you a lot, it is important to realize this is because you may still have doubts about this path, and that’s okay. The more you examine your own motivations and get clarity, the less their questioning and opinions will bother you because those ‘buttons’ won’t be pushed as much.

My husband and I were traveling pretty extensively for a few years before we started housesitting. So it just seemed like a natural thing to get into since we were living a similar lifestyle prior to that.

We like living a simpler life and this allows us to do so in that we don’t have the responsibility of a home and we own very little. While we don’t house sit out of financial necessity, it obviously saves us a lot of money, and what we do make goes very far.

When I think of what we would have paid to stay in some of the types of places we have stayed in, it makes me appreciate this lifestyle all the more. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t thoroughly enjoy staying in a villa in the Turkish Riviera or a huge apartment with amazing views in Prague.

We both have online businesses so we bring in income from that. If you currently don’t have any source of income, there are definitely things you can do but I wouldn’t be able to contribute much on that front. I am sure other people here will offer some good suggestions for exploring that more.

The most important thing to remember is if you try it and decide it’s not for you, then you can stop doing it. That’s awesome you are giving it a go and just take it one step at a time and understand there may be a bit of a learning curve as far as evaluating opportunities, adjusting to certain challenges,etc…

[Enjaybee]

Hi - we did our first sit last December in singapore as a one off holiday and have ended up petsitting almost full time around south east Asia since.

We were already nomadic both have online jobs, partner is a remote designer and I design teaching resources. We were travelling already but petsitting gave us the comfort and security of a home and so we just continued with the journey. It’s been the best time of my whole life and I can’t express how grateful I am to have stumbled upon trusted housesitters.

We deal with a lot of negative comments from friends and family and to be honest we just kind of ignore them now and change the conversation. I get bored trying to defend a lifestyle that we love and are proud to do to people who are clearly a bit jealous and want to make us feel bad. In the end it’s us that are living the dream cuddling pets as we go so everything they say just bounces right off.