Living in Tallahassee five years ago I earned extra income by house and pet sitting. Just as that began to build momentum, I moved back to Southwest Florida and haven’t done it since. I never thought of care-taking a home and pet sitting as a way of seeing the world until meeting Lisa Chavis and Cheryl MacDonald, travel bloggers and authors of Live Your Dream! House Sitting Around the World (April 2013).
House Sitting Can Save on Your Hotel Budget
The duo left their successful careers as a pharmacist and corporate executive in 2007, sold their possessions and took off to travel the world. What was supposed to be a six-month career break has turned into a way of life and blog about their adventures on www.WhatBoundariesTravel.com and how to do it on www.WillWork4Travel.com.
They’ve leveraged a pretty economical way to travel which affords them to become part of a community and experience a culture through house sitting. Lucky for you and me, they’ve compiled what they’ve learned in an easy to understand format on how you can do it, too, in their book Live Your Dream! House Sitting Around the World.
House sitting in order to travel isn’t a way of earning money, it’s an exchange of services. The homeowner has the peace of mind knowing someone is taking care of their home while the sitter has a free place to stay, in addition to doing some chores.
House Sitting for the Solo Traveler
Although Lisa and Cheryl house sit as a duo, house sitting can also be terrific for solo travelers. Sometimes homeowners prefer one person taking care of their home. It can also provide a better sense of security and affords the opportunity to become part of the community. And, if you don’t like dining alone, having access to a kitchen will ensure you have access to a delicious meal you prepare yourself.
Live Your Dream! House Sitting Around the World is Full of Useful Info and Not Fluff
In addition to being a guide on how to house-sit in another country, the book has a little bit of travel narrative with Lisa and Cheryl sharing nuggets from past experiences and what they learned. I often found myself smiling while reading the book because it reads like it was written by a friend sharing a casual tale. They explain how to find house sitting gigs, offer tips on being selected for the desirable opportunities, and share how they have gotten involved in the community their staying.
If you’re expecting to house-sit in a castle tucked in the French countryside, House Sitting Around the World will help you set realistic expectations. In the words of Big Brother’s Julie Chen, “expect the unexpected.”
The meat in this guidebook are the practical and easy to follow tips and resources on how you can become a house sitter (including hyperlinks to those sites). They also include an appendix full of resources including links for visa information for U.S., U.K., and A.U. citizens traveling, and sample forms a sitter may need, which are a contact list, maintenance list and sample contract.
House Sitting Around the World is also a great read for homeowners considering a house sitter because it offers a look into what the sitter is expecting. I found it useful because I recently began using a cat sitter to look after my cat Sunny during my travels.
The book also has a pretty groovy bonus, a discount code valid on registration to a specific house sitting website, which basically pays for the book. The code is valid for both sitters and homeowners.
Live Your Dream! House Sitting Around the World
By Lisa Chavis and Cheryl MacDonald
Kindle Edition
Cost: $9.99
Product Details
File Size: 2660 KB
Print Length: 144 pages
Publisher: Wander Press; 1 edition (April 2, 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00C68MQ7O
Disclosure: In order to review the book I received a complimentary copy, however, opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.
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