I’m currently a digital nomad and work from my computer, so I’m mixing in sits with different month long airbnbs.
I currently don’t have a home, just hop from one spot to the next.
Do people do this as a way of life where they basically just go from sit to sit?
Hi @dksnook 
We’ve been full-time sitters since retiring in 2012, and for us it’s become a genuine lifestyle rather than just a way to travel. We don’t maintain a permanent home and generally move from one sit to the next, with the occasional short stay in between if the timing doesn’t quite line up.
It takes planning, flexibility, and good reviews to keep the calendar full, but it’s definitely possible.
It’s not for everyone, but if you enjoy variety, love animals, and don’t mind living out of a suitcase, it can be a wonderful way to live.
After more than 14 years, we still love it.
It’s a way of life for us, and we love it that way. Our own home was turned into a holiday cottage when we started sitting.
We rarely go home, we have more fun sitting.
There have been previous threads about full-time sitting. If you use the magnifying glass at upper right, you can check out a bunch if you like.
@dksnook I can echo everything that @HappyDeb & @WeRPAWsome have said. It’s a way of life. And it’s not for everyone! But for us the freedom and the adventure is amazing. I’ve actually already written a bit about our experience on your other post (about Premium membership.) But to add here- we sit for over 300 days per year on average and when not sitting we stay occasionally with friends or family and, in countries like India or parts of Asia, we rent monthly airbnbs if not sitting. Sometimes a little sit burnout occurs and some off-duty time is required. Then we take a short break! But basically the majority of our accomodation needs are met through housesitting. And the be honest the comforts, and sometimes luxuries!, of a real home beats paying for an airbnb! We also quickly miss having pets around if we’re renting!
I do have a home, but I love this lifestyle so much that I choose to do it almost full time.
Can you say more about why you love it so much, as I can’t imagine anything worse 
We gave up our permanent address in September 2020, stayed in Airbnbs for a few months, then did our first house sit in July 2021 and have been doing house sitting full time ever since - we are currently on sit number 111
I would have to sit down and do some math, but getting rid of the expenses of our home would certainly reduce our monthly living expenses considerably. I think you once shared your strategy. When staying almost full time in other’s homes, your main expense would be food, I imagine. You add complexity in other ways, but reduce the complexity of owning a home or paying rent/utilities.
I started sitting in 2014 with my husband–the traveling lifestyle started in 2011. Through 2020, most of our sits were international; we would have stretches where we stayed at my mom’s house in NJ to visit with friends and family, and would take some sits in NYC to break things up–we didn’t have a car at the time so were limited to areas that we could reach and get around in without a vehicle. Save a few sits in NJ that we were able to navigate without a car, New York was pretty much the only place we sat in the States during these first 6 years.
She died in May of 2020, and since then, we have not had any sort of home base and Covid prompted more domestic travel that we have kept up, but we have still spent a good deal of time abroad as well. We have done over 120 sits on THS in `18 or 19 countries I believe.
Since we started sitting, we have had a few periods of ‘non-sit’ travel, but it is not something we do regularly. I don’t really like spending a lot of time in hotels, and as far as rentals go, nothing would ever be as nice, big and as comfortable as the types of house in which we tend to stay.
When traveling somewhere like the US, it is really easy to book sits back to back and we rarely have gaps in our schedule. The last gap we had was back in December for a couple of nights since our latest US stint that started in September. Prior to that we had been in the UK for 6 months and only had one night we had to pay for accommodation. When moving from country to country for sits, we will usually end up with some short gaps and that is fine by us.
We made a trip out West this winter–prompted by a Christmas sit we booked in Vegas–and have been in California since January. We are liking it so much here and don’t have any plans to leave any time soon. We are currently booked here through the end of September and I can’t imagine spending the fall and especially winter anywhere else, save perhaps another warmer area during these seasons, like Arizona. Already keeping my eye out for winter sits in Southern California though probably would not book something this far ahead unless it really stood out for some reason–know there will be plenty of sits to choose from, especially during the holidays.
I have been living this way for so long I can’t imagine doing it differently, and don’t plan to stop any time soon!
We are on back to back sits since May 6th (it is July 16th currently) and continue to be booked on back to back sits through October 21st. Tomorrow we interview for adding on through November 8th. We have had 3 gap days so far, and anticipate 7 more gap days at the end of Sept/beginning of Oct.
The back to back stays stack up like this:
So it sounds like really the main expense is flights/travel between sits?
Do a lot of people also work remotely and make/save money that way?
where all have you been staying?
How do all the stays impact your budget? Are you basically just paying for flights etc between stays?
I work online, and have been sitting for nearly 10 years, the last 5 have been basically full time. I’ve completed over 150 sits (including many repeats). I mostly sit in London, S. England so my travel expenses are low (although I have done plenty of summer sits in France, Greece etc). Between sits, I stay with family or friends - including several HOs that are now good friends!
@dksnook This year, we are living on a £1000 a month budget for two people - we do monthly updates, and so far, up to the end of June, we are only slightly over budget
You beat me to it @Colin 
We don’t really have a budget. We just pay whatever anything costs. We are doing THS to explore Texas as it is my spouse’s first time to the state. All are stays are in the Houston and Austin region – so far. We drive to have more control over our travel, and have not had the need to fly yet. We stay at our Houston home for gap days, and sub-leased our place in Mexico. Most money we spend is on groceries, but restaurant dining is also high. We will go to a hotel if needed in the future. I wouldn’t say THS is saving us much money except electricity costs – it doesn’t feel that way anways. Our work is done online.
@dksnook Yes those really tend to be the main expenses. My husband and I have online sources of income and a pretty decent savings account.
Obviously not paying rent or mortgage saves us a lot of money. It also naturally cuts down on spending in various ways–not having to buy items for a house, no random splurges on new pillows for the couch, not having a ton of clothes, toiletries, shoes,etc…
And we tend to live a pretty simple life in that we do not feel compelled to spend a lot of money on touristic activities unless it is something we really would want to do–most of the time we are happy to just explore a local area and take some photos.
We eat pretty simply, don’t drink at all and don’t go out to eat all that often unless we are in a country where it is pretty cheap to do so. Everyone values things differently and going out to eat a lot is not something I personally find worthwhile in more expensive areas like the US. Depending on where we shop, my husband and I can usually get a week’s worth of groceries for 80 USD or less in places like the US, UK and Europe. So spending 30 to 40 dollars on some basic breakfast of eggs, potatoes and toast for example, is a tough one for us!
When I am traveling internationally that obviously is more costly with flights, hotels for gaps in my schedule if moving between countries,etc… I tend to compare those costs to rent, and if I were to add up what we spent on all of that and divide it by the time we are away, it adds up to a lot less than what we would be paying. I remember an international trip we took a few years ago has us flying to 7 different countries over a period of 8 months and if I were to divide those costs by the time we were gone, it was something like 400 a month, much less than we would be paying for an apartment pretty much anywhere in the states, and especially where we are from originally. So while I am mindful of flight costs, and won’t go just anywhere, I don’t mind spending a bit more in that regard because I am not spending a large amount of money on much else pretty much ever.
@Colin I have been watching your videos and am dead impressed with your budgeting. I’d really like to see a breakdown of your grocery spending. I can’t work out how you guys eat for so little. It might seem weird to some people but most of us are trying to save if we can I reckon.
Thank for watching , we appreciate your support 
I think not eating meat helps keep our shopping budget low but we will definitely do a detailed breakdown video to check exactly what we are spending our money on, thanks for the suggestion!