Want somewhere to stay in New York for free over Christmas and New Years Eve? How about a penthouse apartment in Portugal for the weekend? Or maybe a historic farm house in the UK is more you?
We were lucky enough to come across Trusted House Sitters before heading to Europe and from this site, we have had close to three months worth of free accommodation. We were also lucky enough to spend time in some amazing homes during our summer road trip in Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.
After this we were lucky enough to time our washing days with our house sits so we didn't have to hang in laundry mats or pay any outrageous charges.
If your not a very creative cook then it may be worth investing your time YouTube cooking channels or cooking blogs, especially if your vans kitchen set-up is limited. As we spent most of our dinners munging out on a BBQ chicken or ham sandwich because we didn't really have the space to set up the gas cooker inside our van. So whenever we did get access to a full kitchen we made the most of the oven, toaster, microwave and grill.
Pros of Being a Trusted House Sitter
While house sitting may take you away from the van life, there are several pros that make it worth your time. Also, if you're like us and your van has a really simple design, then the following pros make it well worth joining Trusted House Sitters.1. Access to a washing machine and dryer (or clothes line)
Before we got our first house sit in Lisbon, we had spent almost 2 weeks on the road. Due to some of the locations we were going to, and some wet weather, we couldn't hand wash our clothes so we had to keep paying to use laundry mats. The first was just a local town near Bordeaux. It was reasonably cheap but we had to spend a few hours watching The Walking Dead on Netflix while we waited. The second was at a caravan park just south of Porto, this was pretty expensive and cost us almost €14. What made it worst was we packed up and headed a further 30 minutes south before we released we left all our washing back at the caravan park.After this we were lucky enough to time our washing days with our house sits so we didn't have to hang in laundry mats or pay any outrageous charges.
2. Access to a full kitchen
This may not be a great benefit if you're a creative cook and have a cooking set-up inside your van. We caught up with some friends for a couple of nights at Verdon Gorge in France where they had spent almost a month on the road and managed to cook every meal on their portable gas cooker. Us on the other hand are not as innovative with our cooking skills so having a full kitchen was of great help.If your not a very creative cook then it may be worth investing your time YouTube cooking channels or cooking blogs, especially if your vans kitchen set-up is limited. As we spent most of our dinners munging out on a BBQ chicken or ham sandwich because we didn't really have the space to set up the gas cooker inside our van. So whenever we did get access to a full kitchen we made the most of the oven, toaster, microwave and grill.
3. Bathroom
The benefits of this are pretty self-explanatory. We spent a lot of our time throughout Portugal and Spain using the ocean and beach showers which were fine, however when we started heading further north where there are no beaches then you have to find a swimming complex and pay to use their facilities. The cheapest we found was €3/person in Italy, but you were put on a 3-minute timer and you could only pause the shower once!4. A chance to empty out and clean your van
It's surprising how often we held onto unnecessary things during our road trip. We took the opportunity when we could to get the majority of our things out of the van and re-organize things. Having a short term home base came in handy when we returned to the UK and decided to do another lot of major renovations. The home owner was also kind enough to lend us a bunch of tools and his work shed to save us buying our own, cheers Peter!5. Exotic extras
We came across a few of these in our time, because people don't like to put up all the details of their house to strangers there are a few things you only find out when you get there. For example, as I'm writing this we are staying at a UK farmhouse that was built in the 16-hundreds, the exotic extra? The owners have added in a 15-meter indoor heated swimming pool. Others worth mentioning would be the rooftop terrace overlooking the beach, surrounded by acres of beauty and the furry friends that keep you company, many of which we get sad to leave! So I'm sure you can find some of these during your travels.How Does It Work?
To become a house sitter you need to pay a 12-month membership fee and then create a profile, from memory this is around $130 AUD but drops down closer to $100 AUD if you use our discount link. You can then search and apply for house sits all around the world, there are added filters to help make the search process easier, i.e. dates, locations, types of animals you want or want to avoid etc. Once you successfully complete a house sit you are able to provide feedback about your experience on the homeowner's page and then they are able to give feedback about you. This feedback stays on your profile and you gather an accumulative star rating as you complete more house sits. The more stars and reviews, the more inclined a homeowner may be to select you if you have applied.
Now while there are several perks of house sitting you still have to look after the animals and other house cleaning and duties. This may require you to take the dogs for a walk twice a day or look after a variety of animals, so make sure you read the sitter request properly along with any reviews in case it is not something that may interest you. Our tip is to find a house sit with only one cat, this way your duties are typically less and your free to leave the house during the day.
Click here to get 25% off your membership
Read our third blog post here: What does it cost to own a campervan?
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