Housesitting retirees get comfy with other people's homes ... and pets

South Australian retirees Stan and Carole  are enjoying free holiday, using House Sitting to travel to the dream places from their bucket list,

The Thomsons now are doing the big Lap without copping painful hotel bills.

Read entire ABC article : So far, the couple have been on eight housesitting jaunts, including at Moruya and Batemans Bay in New South Wales, Daylesford, Bright and Inverloch in Victoria and also Berri in South Australia's Riverland.

Retirement enriched through Worldwide housesitting

House sitter Barry watches dolphins swim by as He walked the dogs at the Beach

Hi Team, 

I recently did a 2 week sit at Vincentia.Two large dogs and 2 cats were exhausting but rewarding experience
watching dolphins swim by as I walked the beach path. The current sit was gained by phone from a local couple and it ends tonight. One wild, timid cat and huge yard to care for kept me busy.
Will take a rest for the rest of this year, saw a good prospect for Feb 2014 at Coffs will apply for it early!!
Am pleased with the service you provide and will continue on while I am able to travel. 

Barry Morton.
View Barry's profile - ukwood18

Housecarers:

It is always good to hear stories like yours. Where are you from? And what are your main reasons for housesitting?

Hi Ian,

Your website is better than ever now as you keep providing  new features. I live in Mildura Victoria and am semi retired, I have a part-time curator job at a private school, so I can get away for 2 weeks maximum without stress...Having very little savings to retire on, we bought a Mercedes Sprinter van and put a queen mattress inside for overnight stays en-route to sits.
We sold our house three years ago, now we care for a ninety three yo. gent in his home, this gives Netti an income and us a place to stay 'tween sits. Luigi is as fit as a trout on the food and vitamins he gets from us.
We will venture to Tassie one day when we are free to stay longer. We have our next permanent place to stay here sorted already - at little cost. We started sits at Wagga three years ago, referrals are easy once
you have some experience, I now have at least eight refs. to date.
My next sit bloke (in July)sold my first sit man one of his blocks of rural land in Wagga
That first sit guy was my religion ( that helped start us off ) they had an active community garden there and had film nights once a month, the neighbours were very friendly there, also in Vincentia recently the people were very cordial, even the young people were most outgoing there. A neighbour took me fishing
and on drives. We sometimes get some reimbursement for travel/work done but don't expect much.I plan to wait till next year after the next sit is done July/August as our grass is verdant here under irrigation
.
Each sit is different and we learn many new things by these experiences.
Cheers,
Barry Morton.

It is all about Connections. NZ Auckland couple housesit around the Globe with free accommodation. Housecarers makes the world smaller, and helps enrich retirement years.

We have had housesits in Idaho, Colorado, Las Vegas, Arizona, Oregon a couple of years ago. This year we are in Tennessee, and again in Arizona for the same couple. We have also had sits in New South Wales, Queensland and Northern Territory in Australia, and some in the North Island of New Zealand. We live in Auckland.

When we retired from running our own business, found life rather mundane and boring, so really enjoyed organising the pet sits. We had just moved into an apartment and could not have a pet of our own, so another reason as it allowed us to look after other peoples animals. And we enjoy travelling the world and meeting new people and the costs are kept down by staying in people's homes.

We have recently organised a good pet sit in the US and we are returning to a previous pet sit we did three years ago. So it is going really well. We do enjoy meeting the people and their pets. And it seems they are equally as pleased with us as we are with them.... forrys

View housesitters profile for username forrys

Active Retired Canadian couple find world-wide adventure, new places, a 'home' to live in rather than a hotel, immerse themselves in the local culture, make new friends, and get their 'pet fix'

We had a great house sit for 2 months in Australia from one of our applications and had to turn down 2 others that came at the same time. We love reading the notifications and hopefully will have more house sits in the future. We have also recommended HouseCarers.com to many of our friends.

Housecarers: Great news about the housesit - where was it?

The house sit was in a suburb of Brisbane, Australia called Manly West. It was a very nice house with a pool. We looked after the house and their lovely female dalmatian.

We spent a few days with the family before they left on an extended tour of Europe. During that time, they introduced us to their neighbours. Everyone was friendly and we made new friends. At the end of our stay, the owners even arranged for us to visit their parents.....a great place to go out to the Great Barrier Reef.

Housecarers: What is your main reason for House sitting?

My husband and I primarily live in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, however, since my mother passed away three years ago, my father chooses to also live here. That necessitates us going to just outside of Victoria, British Columbia to look after his property in the summer (not a hardship!).

We look at house sits wherever....however prefer those outside of Canada and the US. Why do we like house sits.....adventure, new places, having a 'home' to live in rather than a hotel, to immerse ourselves in the local culture and to make new friends. We do not own any pets (although we both have done so), so get our 'pet fix' sometimes through house sits. Who could ask for more!..... Margaret, 2iscompany2

View housesitter profile for active retired Canadian couple, now living in Mexico