House sitting is one of the best ways to travel on a budget, and is one of the “secrets” of how some people can continue to travel year after year without resorting to getting a “real job” but just taking their side hustle gigs to the next level.
Here’s a look back at how I got started house sitting and a few of the cool house sitting assignments we have landed in the time since.
I highly recommend getting started with Trusted House Sitters, and be sure to pick up my book Big Travel, Small Budget, if you haven’t already, in order to get the details about how to best take advantage of house sitting while you travel.
House Sitting in Seattle
Our first house-sitting gig was up near Seattle, WA when Andrea and I were just getting started with the services. She traveled up from Medellin with me and we spent some time visiting my friends and family.
With our upcoming road trip, we hope to land more house sitting gigs occasionally and thus sought out opportunities locally.
In exchange for a beautiful home to live in with all the comforts one could ask for we just have to take care of Daisy, their sweet, lovable dachshund.
Daisy is absolutely easy going and we love being around her. She’s also a pretty low maintenance dog.
A little dry food in the morning, a dental chew in the afternoon, some canned food in the evening. She takes pills twice a day with her food, which she happily gulps down with the rest of her food.
Beyond that, she just has to have some medicine rubbed on her ears once a day. She doesn’t need to be walked and is well house trained to sit by the door and bark when she wants out.
Baja California
After a few months driving through the American West we crossed the border into Baja California where we did a remote house sitting assignment up in the mountains. We took care of two ranch dogs, two retired horses, and a handful of chickens.
Read more about our Baja house sitting assignment.
Mexico City
After the Baja house sit we continued driving the length of the Baja Peninsula all the way to Cabo San Lucas before turning around and taking the ferry from La Paz to Los Mochis in Mainland Mexico.
From there we explored the beautiful city of Mazatlan and then drove along the coast Puerto Vallarta before heading inland to Mexico City for another assignment.
House sitting in Mexico City was pretty much the complete opposite of our last gig. It is a HUGE metropolis (one of the biggest cities in the world) and we were in the heart of the upscale area in a modern apartment with floor to ceiling windows in an area full of restaurants and bars.
We spent three weeks in Mexico City enjoying the many, many things to do, including museums and cosmopolitan atmosphere while taking care of a little shih tzu named Zoe.
She was very easy going, just taking her on a long walk twice per day and a few short bathroom breaks.
Resources on House Sitting
- Kindle Book: Break Free: The Ultimate Guide to Housesitting
- Sign up for Trusted House Sitters Membership – One year for less than $100
- How to House Sit Around the World
- Join the House Sitters Academy and land the best gigs
- How to Get Started with House Sitting
- How to Become a House Sitter guide book from Hecktic Travels
- My Housesitting Guide from 1Dad1Kid
- How to Get Started with House Sitting by the Traveling Weasels
Ryan
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Comments 2
Bravo Ryan, you’ve put together an outstanding house sitting guide that’s not only useful to newcomers to the house sitting community, but also to the old pros who’ve been doing it for years.
With a year of house sitting under our belt we’re still becoming pros ourselves, but with your tips we should be able to smarten up and be even better.
Author
Thanks so much Dale, that means a lot coming from you, especially as your article(s) were part of what really pushed me to get started with house sitting. Definitely worth it, I think!