Have you ever wanted to take a year off from 'real life' and go on an adventure? Well, even on a limited budget, it is possible, and I'm doing it right now! How? House and pet sitting of course!
Boyfriend and I currently use TrustedHouseSitters.com, which costs $100CND for a 1 year membership. Now, this doesn't guarantee that you will get a house sit... you have to put some work in too. First of all, write a great sitter profile and get some awesome external references (from friends, employers, your mom, whoever!).
Next, don't be picky about your first sit. The first one is always the hardest to get. We applied for somewhere between twenty or thirty sits (all over the world) and only heard back from one or two the first time around. Don't get your heart set on a certain destination if there are limited house sits available in your first-choice location. Trusted House Sitters is heavy with sits in the UK and Australia, with the USA and Europe a close second. Anything outside of that is fairly few and far between. Make sure you take a look at what's out there before paying the annual fee! (Want a 20% discount? Use this link BEFORE creating your profile: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/su/vVpwHWcl)
Understand that house/pet sitting is not like booking a hotel. You must be flexible with dates and willing to take on the real responsibilities of taking care of people's animals. Each sit has it's own quirks and you have to be able to handle sick pets, broken radiators (not literally be fixing them, but dealing with it), and all the gritty realities of domestic bliss. HOWEVER, living in a home and not a hotel, for me, is so much more comfortable (not to mention long-term, if you so choose).
Despite some hiccups (a mentally unstable spying neighbour, a uncontrollably horny humping cat, a Houdini dachshund, and a canine scrotum sore that required daily salve), we have had some amazing adventures that wouldn't have been possible otherwise, taking us to countries we may not have considered otherwise.
We spent 5 months in Scotland, 1 month in Ireland, 2 months in Thailand (a mix of house sitting and hotels), and 3 months in Vietnam (also a mix). Next, we are heading to Australia for 5+ months!
I should mention that boyfriend and I don't have or make a lot of money. We work online part-time to cover basic expenses and flights, but we don't have much left over. House sitting is the only way we'd ever be able to afford to travel this extensively. I think I had $1000 saved before we left initially in September 2016. This means that even YOU can travel long-term!
Thanks for reading!