House & Pet Sitting: How To Get Started & Discount Codes
Updated: 21st January 2025 By Lauren | Published: 21st January 2025
Home »House and pet sitting is an amazing way you can get FREE accommodation while travelling all over the world.
You can save heaps of money on accommodation when travelling just by volunteering to look after other people’s homes and pets.
Me and Fiachra have been house and pet sitting now for over 5 years and have completed 40+ house and pet sits.
We have been using the websites Kiwi Housesitters, Aussie Housesitters, Housesitters Canada, House Sitters UK and Trusted Housesitters to find house and pet sits.
By house and pet sitting, we’ve saved heaps of money on accommodation, met lots of great people, travelled to interesting places, taken care of cute pets and learned new skills!
So far, we have had a great experience and will continue to house and pet sit in the future.
Ready to get started and looking for house and pet sitting discount codes? Jump to that section here.
What Is House And Pet Sitting? 🐾🏡
Housesitting is an exchange where you stay for free and take care of the home and pets in exchange for being able to stay in their house for free (no money exchanges).
Most house-sitting jobs require you to look after people’s pets while they’re away on holiday or for work.
I think it is so much fun taking care of animals, and the benefits of saving money on accommodation are very helpful for my bank balance.
But it does require a certain type of person to be able to be successful at house and pet sitting.
You need to be responsible, have a genuine love of animals, a high standard of cleanliness and being tidy, be trustworthy and respectful, and good at communication.
Related Read: 5 Purrfect Reasons To Become A Cat Sitter
House sits are available across the world. We have house sat in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK and Ireland.
Housesits vary in length from a few days to months at a time. The shortest house sit we have done has been 2 nights, and the longest has 9 months!
So, if you’re looking for a weekend getaway or accommodation for an extended time, there is something to suit everyone.
Our house and pet sitting experience has been great so far. We have loved taking care of loads of cute pets, plus getting accommodation for FREE! 🙂 We really enjoy it!
How To Find Housesitting Jobs 🔍
If you think you have the qualities to be a good housesitter, and make the decision to give it a try, then it is really easy to get started.
All you need to do is join one of the house and pet sitting websites I have recommended below.
These websites are easy to use, reputable websites, feature hundreds of housesitting jobs and affordable membership fees.
There are sites for housesitting jobs websites Worldwide and specifically in New Zealand, UK, Australia, USA and Canada. With much worldwide coverage, you can find house sits in specific regions depending on where you are and/or planning to travel.
You can search and view available housesits without being a member (create a cheeky free account on Trusted Housesitters here), so take a browse and see if there’s anything you’re interested in before you join.
To apply for house sits, you need to become a member. All you need to do is sign up, pay a small joining fee and create your profile.
You need to make a good profile to increase your chances of getting housesits, with nice pictures of yourself taking care of pets and property, for example with animals, or gardening.
Once you get started and build your reviews and experience, it is easy to continue.
If you decide to join, then use my referral links and discount codes (later on in this article) to save money on your membership!
The sign up fee will pay for itself once you start doing house sits and getting free accommodation.
The longer you are a member, the cheaper your membership fee will be each year because for most house and pet sit websites you will get a discount upon renewal.
My Favourite House And Pet Sitting Websites 😻
My favourite house and pet sitting websites are run by two companies. Here is a quick explanation of the different websites, key features and a short review of my experience using them.
Housesitters Websites (Best For UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia & US House & Pet Sitting)
There’s a group of websites run by the same company. This company runs Housesitters Canada, Housesitters America, Kiwi Housesitters (New Zealand), Aussie Housesitters (Australia) and Housesitters UK.
The membership fee for each website is small – it costs less than a hotel for 1 night, so even with 1 housesit it has paid for itself.
The great benefit of these websites, besides being so cheap, is that you can transfer your reviews between all the sites. That means if you join multiple sites, the reviews you have built up can be linked to your other profiles, so you don’t start from scratch again.
A down-side is that you do have to sign up for each site separately and pay a new membership fee. But the fee is so small, I don’t think it is a big deal.
You can browse housesits and housesitters on these websites without creating an account. That is great to give you an idea of what is out there before signing up.
I love the filter options on these sites, and the profile display is really simple and easy to view.
These websites are great if you are planning to live and travel for a long time in one country. For example, I used Kiwi Housesitters for 3 years as I was travelling around New Zealand in my campervan. Housesitting was a great way to take a much needed break from van life, have hot showers, do laundry and stay in one place for a while.
I joined Aussie Housesitters and transferred over all my reviews. Then while I visited Australia for 2 months, I moved around to several house and pet sits, saving so much money on accommodation.
Then when I returned to the UK, I joined Housesitters UK and ended up landing a housesit for 9-months in Wales! I also used house and pet sitting to travel across the UK, visiting Scotland, Stonehenge, London, Yorkshire and Lancashire – all with free accommodation.
You need to do housesits to build up your reviews, but if you make a great profile and apply for sits when they are posted, then you have an excellent chance of getting chosen for sits.
I have a membership on of all of these websites, so I can personally vouch for their legitimacy.
I also have referral discount codes for these house and pet sitting websites below if you’re interested in joining and would like around a 10-20% discount (excluding Housesitters America). Keep reading for the discounts 👇 or jump ahead.
Membership for homeowners on these websites is FREE, and I have found homeowners appreciate this as it gives them zero-risk for placing their housesitting ad.
Trusted Housesitters (Best For Worldwide House & Pet Sitting)
The other house and pet sitting company website I use is Trusted Housesitters. This one is far more popular and has a huge membership, which is growing year on year.
I’ve been using Trusted Housesitters for around 1 year now, and I have had success finding house and pet sits on the website. So far, I have done housesitting in the UK and Canada through Trusted Housesitters.
The greatest benefit to Trusted Housesitters is that house and pet sits are worldwide. So, if you want to house sit in multiple countries with one membership profile, Trusted Housesitters is a better option.
As a new sitter, you can ask your friends, family or previous clients to give you a reference on Trusted Housesitters which will help you in the beginning if you don’t have any reviews.
There are cons with the Trusted Housesitters platform, especially when compared with the alternative websites above.
Due to Trusted Housesitters popularity it can be competitive to get accepted for house sits, even if you have a great profile and plenty of 5-star reviews.
With an abundance of housesitters using the website, homeowners have their pick of the crop.
In an effort to combat this, Trusted Housesitters imposed a limit on 5 applications per house sit, restricting the number of housesitters that can apply for each job.
But this policy can become a hinderance for everyone using the site, as it can prevent both homeowners and housesitters finding opportunities that are the best fit, so I am not a fan of the 5 applicant limit.
Personally I find the website filter and search options are not as user friendly either and the profile layout is a little more complicated.
The membership fees for Trusted Housesitters are a lot higher as well (I’d say expensive). Plus, both homeowners AND housesitters are charged fees for using the service.
There are three membership tiers on Trusted Housesitters, but you only need to go for the Basic option (trust me, it is all you need and it is all I have too!).
If you want to see behind the paywall before committing, then use my special link to sign up on Trusted Housesitters for a FREE browsing account to view housesits before you pay any membership fees by using this link and heading to ‘Join Now’!
Plus if you decide to become a member, Trusted Housesitters have given a special 25% off discount code for Wild Lovely World readers to help save you money! Get the code below 👇
Referral Links And Discount Codes 🫶
Now for the juicy part! Here are my referral links and discount codes for house and pet sitting websites. Use these to save money on your membership!
🌎 Trusted Housesitters – Worldwide – Get 25% off your Trusted Housesitters annual membership by using this link with my referral code: WLW25
👉 Sign up for a FREE browsing account on Trusted Housesitters using this link and heading to ‘Join Now’. 👈
🍁 House Sitters Canada – Canada – Get $10 off your Housesitters Canada annual membership by using this link with my referral code: NJZ3Z2
🇬🇧 House Sitters UK – England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland – Get £5 off your House Sitters UK annual membership by using this link with my referral code: P2CG36
🥝 Kiwi Housesitters – New Zealand – Get $10 off your Kiwi Housesitters annual membership by using this link with my referral code: 6SLUJC
🦘 Aussie House Sitters – Australia – Get $10 off your Aussie Housesitters annual membership by using this link with my referral code: XRU523
🇺🇸 House Sitters America – United States
