We’re not your normal tourist sitters. Our one and only son moved to Spain, and settled there with family, so our time is now split between Spain and the UK.
We started pet sitting to ‘switch off’ or ‘detach’ from our own home a little… but it was amazing… it was fantastic… so within 3 months of starting we were pet sitting full time in both the UK and Spain.
Sitting long term like this is my absolute goal!
Currently we use it as a means to ex0lore the uk, and hopefully one day further afield.
We are limited to school holidays due to my childrens ages- i have thought of taking them out of school and doing a proper adventure but honestly i am not built for home ed, espeically for my older kid with additional needs.
Reacally, both kids will be at home way past 18 due to the impossible cost of living, and we will always have a home base as we also have pets of our own. But once my oldest has supported accomodation and as long as we have remote work, off my partner and i will go for longer term adventures. Actually, even if my partner doesnt have remote work, off i will go, i have no problem leaving him behind! I always wanted to live abroad, but also want to see as much as i can, so this is a great way of doing it without feeling rootless.
I’m with you on this @catscatscats24 !
We’ve been housesitting in school holidays and weekends since 2019, mostly in the UK.
My teenage boys are in school and college and I work in a special school. I would love to be a nomadic housesitter once the time is right and my sons are independent. My current job definitely can’t be done remotely so something will have to change…
I’m sure you will find something that can be done online with that specialist experience. Mediation,advocay?
My husband and I have been perpetually travelling for about 18 months now. We got the idea from a couple we met on a cruise years ago. The lightbulb went off for me that we could travel a lot more if we weren’t spending so much money on a home base. My DH thought this was crazy. “We must have a home base” he kept telling me. We were getting closer to the time when we were going to sell our house to get away from CT winters but we couldn’t agree where to go next. I finally convinced him about traveling perpetually by pointing out that we could always stop if it wasn’t working for us. At that time we would pick our new home base. We set out to do a 2 year trial but DH now figures we’ll go 10 years for sure. While we moved towards this transition, we started using THS for our house and cats. We met so many amazing sitters and were intrigued by those who sat full time. We realized we could be sitters as we traveled too! By the time we sold our house, we had sits lined up, a very long cruise booked, and plans for extended periods of time in Spain and Mexico. And now we have so much more lined up! We do not sit full time but we do it as often as it works into our plans. Multiple sits in Spain last summer gave us an incredible opportunity to experience local life in those locations. At this time, we have no plans to stop what we are doing. 
My house burnt down and I lost everything. I had been living with family and friends when I noticed an advert for a house sitter on a neighbourhood website. I enjoyed doing this so much I joined a few house sitting sites and have been booked for most of the time ever since with rebooking’s and new bookings through to the end of the year and in 2027. I like to have some days in between sits just to have some space to myself with no responsibilities. I either visit family and friends or I book into a Airbnb or a motel. I’ve only had one bad experience with a HO in which the sit was not completed. I have learnt so much since starting out from my past sits that I know which sits are a better fit. The down side is I’ve had a home owner wanting to know who I had in the house when it was actually me but they didn’t think it looked like me in the security footage I hadn’t been told about any camera’s. I don’t mind them being there, I simply like to know if they are monitoring as I like to get around the home in comfortable clothes and without the restriction of having to wear a bra 24/7. And occasions like when I advised a HO the dog’s claw had put a run in the carpet and the reaction not accepting it could be the dog as ‘it had never happened before’. The highlights though is being with the pets, enjoying different locations and styles of homes, the environment around the homes, especially those with bushland, walking paths, birds that come in for a feed of an afternoon and beaches. Animals and nature are so good for the soul.
I would just like to know how full-time sitters afford it.
It’s weird but I’m ok w outside security cameras, sort of like when I was a therapist and felt impatient with a patient or a family member…I’d pretend I was on t.v. And this helped me maintain a professional attitude. When I know the HOs can see me I’m on my best behavio, but to h@#l w them if they mind my braless t shirt, Ha! I love the different pets, and the homeowners are usually good but when they aren’t, I switch off my feelings and make it as brief an encounter as possible.
We afford it by working online as we sit. Both work only part time or you can’t manage all the logistics of dog walks, house care, travel planning and life organisation plus some fun. One of us in marketing and the other one in the stock market. Are you looking for an online job while you sit? #digitalnomads
I’ve been working completely online for 10 years. As long as I have a good internet connection, I’m all set, so petsitting works perfectly for me.
For me it’s faaaaar cheaper than renting/paying a mortgage - not to mention no bills, maintenance, unexpected repairs, no purchasing cleaning products and all the other costs associated with having a permanent residence.
I don’t know what h@#1 w means. Security camera’s inside or outside don’t bother me as long as I know they are on and where they are. It isn’t about professionalism as I ask the question so I can be aware of the cameras and can chose if I want to adjust my choice of clothing or decline the house sit. There aren’t too many people in Queensland Australia, especially in summer, who don’t take off their bra as soon as they walk in the door, no matter what status they hold. I also don’t accept unannounced visitors for the same reason which is why it is one of my conditions that if the HO has friends call around they are to give me at least 30 minutes notice, not just turn up at the door. When the interview is conducted and I’m accepted as the sitter, the agreement is whist it is the HO home, it is also my home for that period of time and the respect needs to go both ways.