House-sitting: Free long-term accommodation

Posted on 07. May, 2010 by Dany in Housesitting

The first time we heard about house-sitting was in an article in England’s Guardian travel section. Right away we realized that this was a great way to get free accommodation for a longer period of time – perfect for our around-the-world trip.

Having ‘private’ accommodation offers various advantages to staying at hotels, B&B’s or hostels:

A fully equipped kitchen – making your own meals saves you a lot of money
Broadband internet – a secure internet connection which allows you to upload pictures, blog and work without problems or the sometimes shady atmosphere of an internet café
A washing machine – you are grateful to have one when you have a limited amount of clothes only
Live authentic – living like a local: getting to know neighbors, local supermarkets and cafes, neighborhoods off the beaten tourist tracks
Stay long-term – really getting to know a place rather than leaving after a week or two
Amenities such as a TV, a garden, king-size bed, a pool, etc. make long-term traveling so much more comfortable

So how does it work?

The house-sitters usually need someone to look after their house and property while they’re on vacation – this can range from a week up to six months or even longer. Mostly there are pets involved which is why they cannot leave their house alone. So it’s a good deal for both sides: the housesitters have a free place to stay and the homeowners get in return someone who is looking after their house and pets.

There are numerous house-sitting websites, some are for specific countries only (like www.housesittersamerica.com for the United States or www.aussiehousesitters.com.au for Australia and New Zealand), others focus on luxury homes (www.luxuryhousesitting.com) and there are websites that offer housesits around the entire globe, such as www.housesitworld.com, www.mindmyhouse.com and www.housecarers.com. Once you’ve registered (for a small annual fee) you can set up daily email alerts with the newest house-sit ads in the areas you’re interested in.

We actually were looking for housesits in Central or South America, however, we ended up taking on a house-sit in Los Angeles for a week – when will we ever have the chance to stay for free in the middle of L.A.? – followed by another three-week house-sit in Arizona in June. Both places were not even on the list of places we wanted to go to during our travels, but that’s what makes it even more exciting – getting to places that we’d probably never had seen and taking opportunities as they arise, as long we’re not tied down to an apartment and 9-to-5 job.

So far, we came across house-sits in spectacular places such as the Fiji islands and an island off the coast of Brazil, a B&B sit in England, a rural farmhouse in Southern Spain, entire ranches including horses in Montana, a house in the Scottish Highlands – the list is endless. We hope to find more housesits on our route and can’t wait to see what places house-sitting will bring us to.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Share This

Tags: free accommodation, house sit, house sitters, house sitting, Housesitting

10 Responses to “House-sitting: Free long-term accommodation”

Bubble

09. May, 2011

I’ve just started some long term travelling with my ladyfriend We’re 6 weeks in, currently in Mexico & headed to Europe in about 4 weeks. Excellent tip-off on the House-sitting sites! We will defo get registered! Thanks.

Reply to this comment
- Phil Dyson
  
  13. Mar, 2012
  
  We have recently moved to Melbourne. We actually used a few house sitter sites too including Aussihousesitter.com.au and HousesitterConnect.com.au.
  
  It’s a great way to save money on rental or your mortgage.
  
  Reply to this comment
  - Dani
    
    14. Mar, 2012
    
    Thanks Phil – we’ll make sure to check these two sites out when we’ll visit Australia! We’re currently housesitting in Thailand and our next housesit in the U.S. is already lined up Big fans of housesitting!
    
    Reply to this comment
Tiffany

15. Feb, 2012

We’ve jsut started looking for house sits for our travels through SE Asia and Europe… No luck yet, but I still have hope! How have you been faring?
Tiffany recently posted..Something Worth Going Home For

Reply to this comment
- Dani
  
  15. Feb, 2012
  
  Hi Tiffany! We find it much easier to find housesits in Europe – just because there are so many more housesitting gigs. We come across very few housesitting opportunities in SE Asia, and we feel so lucky that we’ve scored to gigs here. You just have to keep trying – once you get one and get a good reference from the homeowners, it gets much easier.
  
  Reply to this comment
Tom

15. Mar, 2012

Another good site for Australia & New Zealand is http://www.ozhousesitters.com.au/

Reply to this comment
- Dani
  
  15. Mar, 2012
  
  Thanks for sharing, Tom!
  
  Reply to this comment

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Reflections: 200 Days on the Road | Globetrottergirls - 18. Nov, 2010
[...] Cooking for ourselves more often would be great, but only comes with our apartment rental and housesitting [...]
Reflections: 300 days on the road | Globetrottergirls - 27. Feb, 2011
[...] We have no set itinerary, and we are free to change our plans whenever we’d like. A fantastic house-sit opportunity in German Alps came our way, and after 9 months straight of Central America travel, we [...]
The Joys of House Sitting - 19. May, 2011
[...] Girls have house sat in Italy, Germany, the USA and are heading to Canada next. See their post House Sitting: Free Long Term Accommodation.Dalene and Peter at Hectik Travels have looked after houses in Canada and on a tropical island in [...]