House and pet sitting

Hi Pod

We have two neighbours whose kids, and the parents as well, look after the cats for us and check the mail etc. We pay them and I believe we helped finance a trip to Canada for one. Whether it's the kids or the parents they visit the house twice daily. Once in the morning to unlock the cat door which gives the cats access to a large secure play area outside half under the veranda and a sunny spot as well. They return in the afternoon/evening to bring them inside, play with them and feed them. They also have to change their trays.

$25 per day for three cats. That beats $20 a day for each one with a stranger and not secure "outside" dedicated run for them alone.

Maybe a neighbour like ours!!!

Phil

We find housesitters on housecarers.com
Register with housecarers.com - its free.

Do a search for either Hunter Valley, or NSW. There are plenty of people who will travel anywhere in the state to housesit. you can also place an ad (its free) and people will apply (be prepared to pull the add after a couple of days - youll be inundated with applicants). there is no obligation at all.

many of them are seasoned travelers who continuously move around Australia living in their caravans in between housesits. we actually interview our 'short list' applicants on skype video - its much better than email or phone.

there is plenty of advice on the site for newbies. information such as - who pays for the utilities , how often the dogs get fed, the lawn gets mowed etc can be included in contracts. these are provided by the website.

in our case - we dont charge the housesitter for anything, nor do we pay them anything.

enjoy

There was some discussion about this a month ago on this thread here. Suggest check out a few of the websites - you may be surprised at how many folk there are out there who would love to do a sit for you. And as has been mentioned Skype is great for interviewing your prospective sitters.

Cheers,

Val

There are good house sitters out their, and their are the bad ones.

We experienced the bad ones. The first ones we contacted through the house sitters book.

We had fruit trees bearing at the time. We told them to help themselves but to leave some in the fridge for us when we returned.

They left us no fruit but made jam for themselves. Using our sugar and jam bottles. Then they left before we arrived home. Just as well we had good neighbours. They fed the dog until we came home.

The next lot were friends of people we know. They told us they didn't drink, but when they went into town they got intoxicated and didn't arrive home until the next day. Again the animals were no fed.

Both lots had free use of the phone for local calls and free electricity. They didn't have to pay for caravan parks as they were living in their vans.

Another vote for house sitting, try http://www.ozhousesitters.com.au/