Housesitting jobs provide you with the opportunity to stay in someone else’s home for free. Imagine, the chance to stay anywhere in the world for free! Build up your experience and you will soon be being accepted for ones all over the world. How about a villa in the Caribbean! Occasionally housesitting does not include anything other than simply ensuring the house is okay. However, most often you will be in charge of the person’s pets from hamsters to Great Danes. I wouldn’t recommend signing up to a housesitting site if you are not an animal fan because there are rarely sits without them. If you are an animal fan though, then this is the ‘job’ for you! Free accommodation sounds like a good deal to me! Housesitting is perfect for full-time travellers, you have a world of free accommodation available to you all year round!
Where to find housesitting jobs
Trusted Housesitters
- £99 per year for the basic plan
- £129 for the standard sitter
- £199 for the premium sitter
- Unlimited access to housesits worldwide in each plan
Trusted Housesitters is the site I use. It has the most housesitting jobs available in comparison with other housesitting sites so worth the slightly higher sign up fee. I recently applied to 3 house sits and was accepted the same day by each of them! This was very unexpected but because there is more variety on this site, more experienced house sitters are applying for the more popular house sitter jobs so this leaves the less popular house sits for newbies like me.
Copy and paste this disocunt code for 25% off of Trusted House sitters! https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF473296/?utm_medium=refer-a-friend&utm_campaign=refer-a-friend&utm_source=copy-link
Mind My House
- £14.30 yearly fee
- Unlimited access to housesits worldwide
Less house sitting jobs available though so more competition. If your plan is to be a regular house sitter then I strongly recommend using Trusted Housesitters.
Nomador
- £24.95 every 3 months
- Unlimited access to sits worldwide
I had a scroll through both Trusted Housesitters and Nomador, there appears to be more housesitting vacancies available on Trusted Houesitters so I definitely don’t recommend paying so much for Nomador. There does not appear to be any special benefit to joining Nomador over Trusted Housesitters.
Mind a home
- £15 per year
- Only sits available in the UK
As there are no house sitting overseas available, I recommend choosing Mind My House, if you are 100% not going to be looking for housesitting jobs abroad.
House Sitters UK
- £29 per year
- Only sits available in UK
There appear to currently be a lot more UK house sitting jobs available on House Sitters UK in comparison with Mind a home. Therefore, for those not looking for house sitting jobs abroad then I recommend House Sitters UK.
If housesitting sounds like a great opportunity to you then check out my 25% discount code for Trusted House Sitters at the end of the post!
How to be accepted for housesitting jobs
Filling out your housesitting profile
About yourself
Firstly, tell the truth. Don’t make yourself sound like some sort of animal whisperer. You often meet the host beforehand so you don’t want to have to put on some sort of act. Write some general information about yourself to show what kind of person you are and what you do in life.
Here’s a snippet from my ‘about’ bit –
‘Hi there! I’m Zoe, 26 years old from the Scottish Highlands. I grew up in the North and recently graduated from Stirling University. I am now ready to go out and explore the world a bit. Next year I will be completing a conservational turtle internship and after that, I am planning to volunteer in animal sanctuaries.’
Why you want to house sit
Show your interest in looking after the animals as well as an interest in visiting other places.
Here is another snippet from my profile –
‘I adore animals and I always find it hard leaving my parents dog so I thought house sitting would be a good option for me. Travel and animals are the perfect combination! Also, as a travel writer, I absolutely love exploring new areas, experiencing new cultures and trying out local food and drink!’
What housesitting job experience you have
Again, stick to the truth. If you have only ever looked after goldfish then don’t make out like you have handled a pack of Great Danes and 10 Huskies! You may think it will be easy to take a dog out for a walk or 2 a day what ever type it is but many can be hard work and very strong so it is better to er on the side of caution if you think the dog may be beyond your control. This is as much for your sake, as it is for the owner and the animals. You will most likely have a stressful time and the dog will not find it enjoyable either.
Another snippet from my profile –
‘I often look after my parent’s dog while they go away. I also look after my sister’s cat frequently. I grew up with a big hairy dog who was my absolute best friend. I also had a pet cat and several guinea pigs.
This should go without saying but obviously don’t copy mine or anyone else’s profile. These sites are advanced and are certainly not stupid so your profile will likely be rejected.
Applying to a house sit
When sending the host a message, make sure you sound enthusiastic about the animals and not just the sit! Obviously free accommodation around the world is the reason we are applying to sits but the hosts want to know you can be relied upon to look after their animals.
- Introduce yourself
- Explain why are you on a house sitting site
- Show enthusiasm about their animals
- Show interest in the area e.g. if it has castles you could mention an interest you have in history
- Mention any relevant experience you have (even if it’s in your profile). It’s better to over inform than under inform as it will show your enthusiasm.
I followed each of these steps and now have 3 house sitting jobs lined up in England for next month. I will be saving an average of around £250 – £350 on accommodation!
Tips for housesitting jobs
- Looking for international house sitting jobs then I recommend you choose Trusted Housesitters.
- Looking for UK house sitting jobs then I recommend you choose House Sitters UK.
- Tell the truth when filling out your profile
- Apply to house sits as soon as you find suitable ones
- Start with a few short term ones to build up your reviews.
- When you come across a suitable house sit, don’t wait – apply straight away before the vultures start circling!
- Be enthusiastic about the host’s pets and the area they live in.
Plan on housesitting? Then pin this for later to check back on when applying to sits!
Copy and paste this disocunt code for 25% off of Trusted House sitters! https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF473296/?utm_medium=refer-a-friend&utm_campaign=refer-a-friend&utm_source=copy-link
Very useful article, thank you – have fun!
This was the new subject for me.