I found people who open their homes to generally be super chill. You can get a sense of whether or not they’re easygoing or uptight. Ask them what the most important thing about a pet sitter is to them. Meet in person or at least over video beforehand and ask the hosts about previous sits to gauge how easy they are to please. I like to find people on LinkedIn or Facebook as well if possible. One family still let me take care of pygmy goats on an island off Seattle, no experience necessary!ĭon’t forget that as much as they’re trusting you, you are also trusting them. (Now an alpaca, I’d try.) If you’ve never cared for a pet, just be honest. It just wouldn’t be fair, when someone who knows how to care for them could come. I love horses, but I wouldn’t pet sit a horse by myself. Part of being trustworthy is being honest about what you can and can’t do. Don’t be shy when selling yourself and your trustworthiness. Do you have social media with a following you can link to? Do you have a job with a high trust factor, like nursing or teaching? Or perhaps you have a connection with a trusted organization you can tout. Ask yourself how someone would know you’re not an ax murderer. To thrive within it, leverage what’s called your reputation capital. There’s a currency that pulses under the world of housesitting, and it’s the trust economy. I didn’t worry about anything while staying with, for example, a 135-pound Newfoundland named Dozer in Sante Fe. Plus, when you’re alone, an extra security measure makes you feel safer. Pet sitting can be a perfect option for single travelers, who are often financially punished for traveling alone. You could save a lot of money by pet sitting if you need to pay off debt, if you need a release from the pressure of bills or living expenses, or if you’re young and have no other way to afford accommodations, it might be for you. I enjoyed the wide-open budget and the adventure so much that I kept going, completing more than 17 pet sits and spending 134 nights for free in other people’s homes, from Santa Fe to Seattle to London. I packed my things into a storage unit that cost $81 a month and flew to New Mexico, where I began an experience that not only saved me a ton on travel - it allowed me to life hop. Though I chose any country, most of the sits are posted from places people actually get real vacation time, like the UK and Australia. On my end, it asked for a general description of who I am, an explanation of why I wanted to housesit, then my experience with animals, age, when I was available, and what countries I’d be interested in visiting. Each listing included pictures of dogs or cats, goats or chickens, and the homes, with a description of responsibilities and reviews. I saw Airbnb, but with faces of pets instead of prices. I don’t know why I had never seriously considered it before, why it wasn’t until I actually swiped through the app that it felt like a real option. It’s not like I’d never heard of pet sitting. That small request, that $100 investment, that one app would revive and reinflate my life so dramatically over the next half a year that, at the end, I would mark the era with a tattoo. It cost $100, and though I felt like this was just a casual arrangement between buddies, I would save at least $3,000 over the two months, so I complied without complaint. She and her husband organized all their pet-sits through an app, so they asked me to sign up for it. Before I moved from Seattle to Florida, my friend asked if I’d want to take a two-month pause in between to stay at her place in Albuquerque and pet sit her three-legged cat, Mocha.
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