Diaries of a housesitter
What I thought would be a four-week stint, has turned into a bit of a lifestyle. It’s been 6 months since I began housesitting. I packed up my apartment (you can read more on that here) and headed off to my first beautiful little housesit in Coogee. It was a dream. The apartment was owned by an architect and interior designer power couple. Every detail was perfect and I floated into their little space and made myself at home in about 0.5 seconds. I looked after their cat, Mouf, who was the love of my life and a downright dreamboat.
While I was in Coogee, I locked in another housesit that lined up perfectly. So after four weeks I packed up the Getz and drove over to my next 5-week sit in Maroubra.
Back in those early house sits I had WAY too much stuff with me which meant packing up/unpacking required backup in the form of a sister (thank you, Bianca). The car was so packed there was barely room for me.
As the house sitting has gone on, I’ve culled all of the unnecessary things and now everything I need fits in the boot of the car. I basically just roll a suitcase into a house sit, unpack it and I am good to go.
Anyway, back to Maroubra. While the cat (Gino) wasn’t as dream-boaty as my sweet love Mouf, I was still grateful to be there. The apartment was one road back from the beach and right around the corner from The Grumpy Baker (hello pies and baked goodies).
The meant-to-be-ness continued because the next housesit lined up perfectly and yet again I packed up and drove over to a stunning little North Bondi house owned by a gorgeous South African couple. I added Nelson and Gracie to my list of fur-babies for two weeks.
After North Bondi I needed a break! Being responsible for a pet while also trying to maintain a social life proved challenging at times. I, for example, couldn’t just pick up and leave Sydney for a night or head home to Newcastle for a weekend (or even come home too lit without feeling slightly anxious I’d be ratted on by the neighbours.)
Anyway, after the break, I locked in the Mother of all Housesits. A 16 million dollar apartment in McMahon’s point with full balcony views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. To top it off I landed my first dog sit and met the second love of my life, Scout — a golden-retriever cross labrador and the goodest of good boys. The apartment was owned by an investment banker and his wife and I spent three glorious weeks living my best harbour babe life. I rocked around in a linen robe, I watched the sun rise over the harbour every morning, I visited local cafes, I took Scout for a morning and afternoon run and would wave or chat to locals I had met on the way by. I’d socialise at the dog park. When I say I fully leaned into the lifestyle, I FULLY LEANED IN.
I viewed the three weeks as my own little movie moment. I bought myself flowers, I drank wine on the balcony, I watched fireworks, and I had friends over for sleepovers. I was highly aware that I would likely never live in a place like that ever again so I made the bloody most of it.
After McMahons Point I had my first experience of dates not fully lining up. I had locked in a Surry Hills townhouse but had just over a week where I had nothing. Stress levels were high but luckily it coincided with a conference mum was in town for, so off I hopped to a hotel in Darling Harbour for a couple of nights before using the time as an excuse to fly up to Brisbane.
After Brissy I flew back to Sydney and moved into Surry Hills with a cheeky little cocker spaniel, Olive.
The Surry Hills place was in the most dreamy little alleyway. Think fairy lights strung across between terraces and kids playing out in the street. Surry Hills was my final housesit for 2022 and after that, I headed home for a month over Christmas.
I know it all sounds peachy, but there were some less-than-perfect moments I’d like to remember as well! For example, my high heel punctured a hole in the floorboards of place one, I had to call the vet for Gino at sit number 2, the cats escaped at sit number 3, I had an ED admission for my endometriosis at both sit 2 and 4 AND Olive ate my shoe and peed inside twice 😂
Stay tuned for the new year adventures in the next blog post!
Frequently asked questions
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To begin with I downloaded TrustedHousesitters, paid the membership fee and started applying for (and getting) sits on there! Now that I’ve built up a few reviews, I also get them through word of mouth.
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When I moved out of my Rose Bay place I sold a fair bit of it! A lot of my things are at my parents place in Newcastle aaaand the rest fits into the boot of the Getz!
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Yes absolutely! But I am heading overseas in August so that makes it easier. I’m saving a lot by not paying rent so that kind of makes up for the inconvenience. I’ve also gotten used to living out of a suitcase which is kind of crazy!
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Not yet! The app I started on is unpaid, you just don’t have to pay rent. Now that I have some good reviews though, I am starting to put the word out for paid sitting. So stay tuned!
