We stumbled across housesitting as a means of finding alternative ways to stay in a location for “free”! The idea of exploring a different part of the world and staying in a home for “free” in exchange for caring for someone’s home, garden and/or pet was quite appealing to us. It offered us an opportunity to really experience a town from a local perspective, as well as save money we would have otherwise spent on accommodation costs.
We did not envisage it becoming more, much more, than this. We did not see that we would be given an insight into how others live. We didn’t foresee the trust we would be afforded for looking after a beloved fur-child or a cherished garden or the sanctity that a home would offer us.
We did not even see the friendships that have eventuated. The offering of meeting a pure stranger and it developing into a trusted, fun friendship. And without judgement, we have enjoyed the insight into seeing how everyone lives so very differently. It has offered us new ways of living. It has opened our eyes to how we could be more environmentally friendly, when we honestly thought we were pretty good at this. It has given us more ideas on how to live more sustainably.
It has taught us how to live more minimally, more consciously and to leave less of an impact on the earth. It has afforded us more time for each other. This has been our most unforeseen profound gift to one another. Our discovery of ‘time’ has been incredible. It has made us aware of how much time we had previously wasted on minor and trivial tasks in our own home.
How has this occurred?
The temporary nature of our stays allows us time to not get bogged down in the building structure of homes. We still focus on tasks at hand, like gardening, cleaning, vacuuming, but don’t give a second thought to; ‘Does this room need a repaint, or what about a garden make over?’ We completely live in the moment. Truly, this has been a revelation to us also. Such an over-used quote, but honestly, it is what we really do.
We take time out to enjoy someone’s garden or their decking, or a view from a kitchen table. We sit with pets and give them the attention they desire. One housesit, I threw a toy for a gorgeous poodle for seven hours thinking it would eventually tire, I am not even lying! It was me that gave up in the end! Our point is that, we would never have done this with our own pets. We were taken up with thoughts of more important tasks, or so we thought.
Honestly, what would you do if you had no perceived constraints on your time? Would you spend it at work? Or would you spend it taking a stroll in the garden? Would you spend it with a loved one? Or would you rather do the dusting?
Housesitting has freed up time for us and eliminated distractions.
Housesitting has also shown us just how much the ‘busyness’ of our life has taken up our time previously. It has highlighted what and who is important to us and who we matter to. It has made loved one’s seek out our time more, because our geographic location changes on a weekly to monthly basis, so we are no longer there for them “just around the corner”.
We are grateful for the new perspective that housesitting has given us. We had originally intended this to only be a way to live for seven months before our long term travel, but we will continually be open to exploring this more as time goes on.
ps. This is not an affiliate post, but if you were interested in joining , here is the link to Trusted Housesitters that we would recommend.
https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF228479/
FLASHPACKERS TRAVEL 