Last year, I fell in love with house sitting.
As someone who loves living with animals (my cats are always what I miss most when I’m traveling), and who can work from anywhere, house sitting has turned out to be exactly what I need to do.
This way, I can care for someone’s pets while exploring life in another city or country.
While it comes with responsibilities, you get a feeling of living in a different city/country – so much more than when staying in a hotel or a vacation rental.
If you love being with animals, and wonder if house sitting may be something for you, you’ve come to the right place.
In this TrustedHousesitters review, you can find all the answers to your questions and find out if this house sitting app is the right choice for you.
TrustedHousesitters review | An overview of the housesitting app
What is house sitting?
Let’s start with a short wrap-up of what you can expect from house sitting.
When you house sit, you care for someone else’s home and often their pets as well. You handle all the tasks such as watering the plants (indoor and outdoor), cleaning, feeding, and of course, giving love to the pets. You basically step into someone’s life while they’re traveling and take care of all the housework and pet care.
How does house sitting work?
Both sides benefit from house sitting – as a house owner, you have the assurance that your house and pets are taken care of. And as a sitter, you can stay somewhere else (almost) for free while having lovely company.
In order to be able to house sit with a platform such as TrustedHousesitters, you have to register and pay a small membership fee yearly (both homeowners/hosts and sitters).
Everyone has a profile with personal details, experiences, and reviews from previous sits so you can get a good overview of the person you’re considering to choose.
From my experience, it’s a lot about personality, and many homeowners select their sitters based on their TrustedHousesitters reviews (and so do sitters). Eventually, you’re putting a lot of trust in a stranger.
Impressions from some of my house sits
Best house sitting websites & apps
While there are several house sitting websites out there, the one I can recommend is TrustedHousesitters. It’s the only platform I’ve had experiences with but mine were really positive so far.
I found the platform pleasantly intuitive – from setting up and filling out my profile to the application process and handling everything for an upcoming trip.
They provide you with lots of helpful tips (already for your profile and applying) and you receive a welcome guide before your sit with all the information you need (directions. information about the house & responsibilities, details about the pets and their routines, as well as recommendations for the area). This has to be filled out by the homeowner/host and shared with the sitter in advance.
They also have a house sitting app, so you can access the platform from anywhere on your phone and you can save searches. This way, you receive a notification if a new sitting opportunity is published in a certain place & time that’s of interest to you.
So let’s dive deeper into this TrustedHousesitters review for you to get a better understanding of the whole experience.
My house sitting experiences
With five house sits through the TrustedHousesitters platform, I have gained experience from both countryside and city sits with cats and dogs in three different countries. And the next one is already confirmed. So I’d love to share a bit more about my experiences with you in this TrustedHousesitters review.
One thing is for sure: Every sit is different.
For example, I enjoyed a lovely house in the countryside of Central Portugal where I cared for three indoor cats and five strays living outside. There was a huge garden – which took around one hour of watering every day during summer and there were chickens that needed some attention as well.
There was a strict schedule for feeding the cats 3 times a day. But they gave me so much love, I was able to relax on the beautiful terrace in the sun, and harvest so many vegetables from the garden.
Another sit was much more easy-going, taking care of one cat in Hamburg, Germany, who was super flexible with his feeding times. So I was able to go out and enjoy the city a lot. But he needed to get his medicine every day at 8 p.m. requiring me to be home at that time. And he adored sleeping in bed with me.
A completely different experience was my first sit with a dog who made me get outside in the morning and in the afternoon, no matter what kind of weather. But I was able to take her on amazing day trips, e.g. a small hiking trip in Northern Portugal’s Gerês National Park. And she adored cuddling up with me everywhere in the house, especially under the blanket at night.
So you can see, every house sitting experience is different and requires more or less time and work while you’re there. Some hosts allow you to use their car or are very easily reachable by public transport. Others require you to arrive in your own car, as they’re very remote. Some pets ask for more attention, while others are shy or want to be by themselves most of the time.
Before each sit, we decided to do a video call to get to know each other better. So both sides were able to decide if it’s a good fit. This has helped me a lot to get a feeling for the people, the home, the pets and all the upcoming responsibilities.
I highly recommend doing that before deciding on a sit.
Overall, I can say that all the people I’ve sat for were adorable, really caring, and welcoming. And all pets, despite their different characters, were easy to take care of, only some were very shy. Therefore, my experiences with TrustedHousesitters have been very positive so far, and I had no occasion yet where I needed to contact customer support.
I still love to think back to each sit and the animals I spent time with. They honestly made my stay so much better with their individual characters, the love they gave me with their cuddles and their cute quirks.
Honestly, sometimes I feel like I don’t want to travel without taking care of a furry friend anymore.
Some impressions of my house sits | From hiking trips with a doggie to feeding 8 cats
Is house sitting the right thing for me?
One thing has to be clear, it’s a different way of travel that comes with responsibilities.
You can’t just see it as an accommodation where you leave the place you stay at in the morning, spend all your day exploring and coming back in the late evening.
Of course, you can also go out and discover the surrounding area. But you have to adapt your schedule to the pet’s schedule. And it’s not just being there with them but actively spending time with them and caring for them. Some animals have certain feeding times that you have to stick to, or even medication that you need to give at a certain time of the day.
I have never house-sat as an actual vacation, but have worked remotely from my house sits. That way, I was able to spend a lot of time with the furry friends I was taking care of.
For me, it’s more a way of exploring how living in a different place feels. It’s not a vacation where I can spend every day freely.
And of course, you need to take care of the place. You have to keep it clean and take care of the plants (and garden) as well which can add up to quite a bit of housework.
You should be aware of that commitment before signing up as a house sitter. But since you’re reading this TrustedHousesitters review, I can tell that your interest is honest.
Most of all, you should never consider it as a way to get free accommodation. You have to truly love animals, need to have some experience caring for pets, and want to spend time with them. After all, you take care of the host’s precious family members.
You’re in charge of them and the house/flat while their owner is away.
That could even mean visiting a vet when the pet gets sick, or calling an electrician or plumber when there’s an issue in the house.
If you’re willing to take this responsibility, invest time and effort (and love, of course), then you can become a good house sitter.
Feeding chickens, harvesting tomatoes & watering the garden during my house sit in Portugal
How to become a house sitter?
After being fully informed by reading this TrustedHousesitters review, the first step is to sign up with the house sitting platform. You can use my code JILL25 to save 25% on a one-year membership.
Next, create a profile and fill it with details about yourself, your experience with taking care of animals, why you consider yourself the perfect house sitter and add pictures. Be honest, authentic and show yourself with animals you’ve taken care of so far.
Then, you can start exploring the house sitting app and website and look for places where you’d be interested in house sitting.
You can search for certain countries, cities, what kind of pets you’d prefer to take care of, what dates are interesting for you and some more filters such as the length of stay.
Once you find a house sitting opportunity that’s appealing for you, you can apply. But only apply if you’re seriously interested and read all the responsibilities thoroughly.
In your application, write about yourself, but more importantly, the home and pet you’re applying for and why you’d be the perfect match for them. Applications should be personal messages and never just generic ones.
It can be hard in the beginning with no reviews yet. But you can ask friends and family who are not registered on TrustedHousesitters for an external reference if you’ve cared for their animals before.
If a homeowner considers you a good match, they usually offer a video call to get to know each other better. That way, you can both get a feeling for each other and talk about more details in order to make a decision. Often, homeowners schedule video calls with a few possible sitters before they decide on one.
Once, you are chosen as a sitter, you receive an official invite which you can confirm through the Trusted Housesitters website or app.
You can stay in contact through the chat or exchange contact details. Usually, they also prepare a welcome guide for you, so you know all the responsibilities, contact details of the vet etc.
I’ve had sits where I met the owners before, even spent one day together in the house where they showed me everything before they left the next day. But I also had one occasion where we weren’t able to meet in person, so I got the keys through a key box and received all instructions in a call. Both can work well.
During your sit, you can always stay in contact with the homeowner and ask if anything is unclear. Usually, they want to get updates on how everything is going and pictures of their pets of course.
TrustedHousesitters review | Pros & cons
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TrustedHousesitters discount code
If you’re convinced and want to give it a try after reading my TrustedHousesitters review, I have a small gift for you.
When you sign up using my code JILL25 you get 25% discount on your TrustedHousesitters membership for one year.
TrustedHousesitters review | Pros & cons
- You get to travel and spend time with animals at the same time (definitely the biggest advantage if you ask me!)
- It’s a slower and more eco-friendly way of travel (in comparison to staying in hotels)
- It feels more like living in a foreign place instead of being a tourist
- You’ll make (human and furry) friends all over the world
- House sitting is (almost) for free. In many places, 1-2 nights in a rental apartment or hotel are more expensive than the TrustedHousesitters membership for a whole year.
- You can find house sits all over the world – in cities and on the countryside, for a weekend or even a month, in a small flat or a large house with pool and garden, with one bunny or a whole farm full of animals. There are so many different opportunities.
- The TrustedHousesitters platform is easy to use and handle
CONs
- For many destinations, you have to be really fast to apply. (I’ve often had the experience that I got notified of a new sit in a place I wanted to visit. But when viewing it a few minutes later, it was already offline.)
- Harder to get the first sits with no reviews on TrustedHousesitters yet
- You have to adapt to different daily routines and stick to (e.g. feeding or medicine) schedules where you have to be at home
- In comparison to a hotel stay: Cleaning after your stay is your responsibility
TrustedHousesitters discount code
If you’re convinced and want to give it a try after reading my TrustedHousesitters review, I have a small gift for you.
When you sign up using my code JILL25 you get 25% discount on your TrustedHousesitters membership for one year.
Leaving is always the hardest!
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