My boyfriend and I have a pretty modern setup with our jobs: we both work remotely. One of the major advantages of this setup is that we can take our jobs with us wherever we go. Last winter, for example, we stayed with family in California for three weeks and only took three vacation days. Needless to say, winter on the west coast was way more enjoyable for us than our good ol' Boston winter.
Come September, what's been keeping us in Boston (my graduate studies) will no longer be relevant (I'll be graduated). In light of our imminent freedom, we've decided not to renew our lease and to spend the next year traveling around the country. Sounds pretty cool, right?
Initially,
we thought we'd do so through month-to-month rentals in any of the
major cities that interest us. And then we discovered there's a free way
to live pretty much anywhere: housesitting.
Is housesitting legit?
I thought it was a joke at first, but it turns out that housesitting as a service for people who are leaving their homes but require care for their pets or gardens while they're away, and as a solution for travelers on the cheap, is actually legit. I even discovered a blog written by a couple who've been traveling around the world for years and housesitting everywhere they go. (They even wrote a great post about housesitting for beginners.)
If you want to check out different parts of the country (or world!) for more than a long weekend, and you need to do so in a way that's budget-friendly, housesitting may be a great option. From what I've read online, housesitters usually live rent-free (perhaps only paying for utilities) in exchange for providing services like taking care of pets, tending to the garden, or maintaining the upkeep of a home.
Useful sites
Here are some sites that offer housesitters a place to create profiles and apply for housesitting opportunities. If you do it, let us know how it goes! And I'll be sure to do the same.
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