With bills going up left right and centre there can be little doubt of that the cost of living crisis has arrived. A post Covid, post Brexit, Russia Ukraine war fuelled cost of living crisis that is making itself known to most of us, and with that we look to see how we can cut costs. Whether you are worried about paying for a holiday that is already booked, or worried about fuel costs for the winter, or indeed worried about how to pay the petsitter now you are finally going away for a break, consider housesitting. What is housesitting? A collaborative housesitting arrangement can help in a cost of living crisis. Let me explain how.
Booked a holiday but worried about extra costs?
If you finally braved it out and booked a holiday you have been dreaming of after two plus years of Covid isolation in your home country, are you now worried about rising costs? We hear daily of every manner of expenditure being increased. Fuel cost rises have affected the price of many international flights. Hotels and hostelries are finding staffing difficult in the UK especially post Brexit, so are paying premium fees for staff and some are having to pass that one to customers. If you have hired a professional pet sitter to care for your pets, they may have to travel to you and may have added a fuel surcharge to cover the volatile fuel charges this Summer.
What about the anticipated costs this Winter?
Looking forward you might also be concerned that fuel costs, heating costs and the like will all become rather difficult to manage post the glorious haze of Summer. Once the doors and windows are firmly shut on the holiday season and you need to keep your home and inhabitants warm. What is the heating going to cost? Do you have options to just staying at home and paying those bills?
Housesitting could help you
What is housesitting?
Housesitting is a collaborative arrangement between two parties: a homeowner who is possibly also a petowner, and a housesitter who is likely experienced in home and pet care. The arrangement acts as a fair exchange between both parties. The owner offers residence at their home free of charge in exchange for home and pet care from the sitter. So it is easy to see how housesitting helps in a cost of living crisis.
The housesitter will benefit because they can move into the owners property for the duration of the housesit. They agree to care for the property and any resident pets. They make sure that all is well managed in the owner’s absence. And most importantly they do not charge for their services.
How does housesitting help the homeowner and petowner? It saves money!
If you are the owner in this relationship you save money on pet care, which in the UK and London especially can cost from £25–75 per day. Multiply that by the 14 days you have booked in the sun this holiday and see how much you can save. You might also have business trips which are unavoidable, and for which you also need pet care cover. Then on top of that if you have a gardener and a cleaner you can give them the two weeks off. The sitter can also help with those services. Now multiply that cost saving by 2 or 3 depending on how many trips you usually take a year.
As a housesitter how will this save you money?
If you are the one volunteering to step in to care for the pets and home on offer apart from travelling to the location and your own upkeep while you are resident you have no living costs. Your heating is paid for. And sometimes use of the care and food are offered as part of the hosts package. This explains why so many retired and semi retired people choose housesitting as a way to escape their own environment for a change of scene. It is a great way to travel on a fixed budget.
And if you travel by housesitting on an ongoing basis with back to back assignments you you can shut up home, save the fuel and heating bills for the Winter. Plus you have a wonderful active holiday and a new location to discover.
How do you get started?
The first thing you have to do is join a reputable housesitting network. Find one with a good reputation that checks all its members on registration.
There are some basic annual registration costs with the professionally run firms. But if you calculate how much money you are saving per year, a simple annual registration fee is a small hurdle by comparison.
Housesitting network support
Check the reviews and get the feel for the network you want to join. If you are a homeowner and petowner take a look at the benefits and if there is support offered by the network to help you get started. That can help you to make the most of every opportunity.
Housesitting UK
And if you are a housesitter look to see where the assignments are, it may suit you to do housesitting in the UK. It means you may be nearer home. This keeps your own travel costs down while saving you the costs of running your own home while you are away.
Housesitting Europe
If you are keen to travel and find the idea of housesitting in Europe an adventure, remember to check the visa requirements, and the allowable duration of stay for your passport type. These are important requirements to be noted and managed post Brexit. Another advantage of housesitting across Europe is that some of the countries may have lower costs of living for food and public transportation than your home country. This means additional savings especially in the Winter when seasonal hikes for fuel costs are common.
Full time housesitting
The other great attraction of housesitting is that as long as your paper work is in order and you are mobile you can travel further afield. In fact international housesitting and travel by housesitting across the world can be addictive. There are many housesitters who choose increasingly to pack up their homes, or rent them out and travel full time across the world. The costs of seeing the world by housesitting can be 70% cheaper than living in one place and paying all the living costs for your own home.
The other advantage is it means you build a good reputation with lots of reviews on the housesitting networks. This in turn makes it easier for people to entrust you with a variety of different housesitting assignments all over the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w963Ol2SZ_I
How housesitting helps in a cost of living crisis in summary
Fancy trying housesitting? It really can save you money in many ways. We have seen how it helps the home and petowner. They don’t need to pay professional petsitter or housesitter fees. In fact they can give the gardener and houses keeper a holiday while the sitters are in residence. And the housesitters can also gain enormous benefit from the housesitting arrangement. It can dramatically reduce the cost of living in your own home, especially in the Winter, when you have to heat your own home. Plus you can rent out your property and venture further afield looking for countries with cheaper costs of living than at home.
Housesitting opens up a whole new world of new opportunities.
