Full-time housesitting sounds perfect: travel the world, live rent-free, spend your days with animals. For some people, it genuinely is a dream lifestyle. For others, it becomes exhausting, isolating, or financially unsustainable within months.
The difference usually isn't luck – it's expectations. Knowing what you're really signing up for makes the difference between thriving and burning out.
The adjustment period nobody warns you about
Most new full-timers hit a wall around 3-6 months in. Common struggles:
- “I don't have anywhere that's mine.”
Every space belongs to someone else. You're always a guest, never truly at home. Even the best sits feel borrowed.
- “I'm tired of adapting.”
New WiFi. New kitchen. New bed. New pet routines. New neighbourhood. Every few weeks, you reset. It's mentally draining.
- “I miss my people.”
Video calls aren't the same. Missing weddings, funerals, Sunday dinners. Friendships fade when you're never around.
- “Where do I actually live?”
For tax, insurance, healthcare, voting – you need an address. No fixed address creates real administrative headaches.
These feelings don't mean you've failed. They mean you're normal. Most full-timers who thrive have found strategies to manage them.
The practical challenges
Healthcare without an address
- • Travel insurance has limits on continuous travel (often 90 days)
- • NHS access requires a UK address (for Brits)
- • Prescriptions need a pharmacy; chronic conditions need continuity
- • Dental and vision often fall through the cracks
Solution: Many full-timers maintain a registered address with family, use international health plans, or base themselves in countries with accessible private healthcare.
Banking and finances
- • Some banks freeze accounts with “unusual” international activity
- • Credit card fraud alerts constantly triggered
- • No address for new cards or replacement documents
- • Tax residency becomes complicated
Solution: Digital-friendly banks (Monzo, Wise, Revolut), informing your bank about travel plans, and maintaining a stable “home” address for official correspondence.
The gaps between sits
- • You need somewhere to be when not sitting
- • Short gaps mean hotels/Airbnbs (expensive)
- • Long gaps mean “filler” sits you might not want
- • Peak seasons have too many sits; off-peak has too few
Solution: Plan 6-12 months ahead, book longer sits, cultivate repeat clients, and have a “home base” strategy for gaps.
The financial reality
“Free accommodation” doesn't mean free living. Real costs:
Ongoing expenses
- • Travel between sits (can be substantial)
- • Gap accommodation
- • Travel/health insurance
- • Phone and data (international)
- • Storage for possessions
- • Emergency fund for surprises
Income considerations
- • Free-exchange sits = no income
- • Remote work needs reliable WiFi (not guaranteed)
- • Some sits limit your working hours
- • Pets that can't be left = no freedom to work
- • Pension contributions often stop
Many full-timers find they need either savings to draw from, remote work income, or – increasingly – paid housesitting to make it sustainable.
What makes full-time housesitting work
The people who thrive long-term tend to have these things in common:
Longer sits
The constant adaptation problem disappears when you stay 3-6 months instead of 2 weeks. You develop routines. You make local connections. The pets become “yours” for a while.
Many experienced full-timers won't take sits under a month. The logistics aren't worth it.
Repeat clients
Returning to the same homes creates anchors in the calendar. You know the pets. You know the house. You know the area. It feels like coming home.
Some sitters build a rotation of 4-5 repeat clients that fills most of their year.
A “base” strategy
Having somewhere you can go between sits – family, a rented room, a cheap apartment in a favourite location – provides psychological and practical stability.
Even if you rarely use it, knowing you could go there changes everything.
Geographic focus
Rather than bouncing globally, many successful full-timers focus on a region: the Mediterranean, the UK, northern Europe. This reduces travel costs, builds local reputation, and makes logistics manageable.
The transition to paid
Many long-term sitters eventually move to paid work. The benefits:
- Income covers gaps and travel
- More selective about which sits to accept
- Clients value you more when they're paying
- Sustainability without depleting savings
The emotional reality
The goodbyes
You fall in love with pets. Then you leave them. Every single time. Some sitters find this increasingly hard; others develop a healthy detachment. Neither is wrong – but know which you are before committing to this lifestyle.
The loneliness
Pets are wonderful companions. They're not human conversation. Long sits in rural areas can be isolating, especially for solo sitters. If you need regular social contact, plan for it deliberately.
The identity question
“What do you do?” becomes a complicated answer. “Where do you live?” even more so. Some people relish being outside normal categories; others find it destabilising. Full-time housesitting is as much a psychological choice as a practical one.
Is it for you?
It might work if you...
- Genuinely love animals (not just like them)
- Are comfortable with uncertainty
- Can work remotely or have passive income
- Are good at self-motivation and routine
- Have a partner (makes everything easier)
- Are in a life stage without fixed commitments
Think twice if you...
- Need a sense of “home” to feel stable
- Have chronic health needs
- Struggle with ambiguity and change
- Are doing this to run away from something
- Have close family you'd miss too much
- Expect it to solve financial problems
The bottom line
Full-time housesitting can be a wonderful lifestyle – for the right person, in the right circumstances, with the right expectations. It's not a free ride, it's not for everyone, and the Instagram version leaves out the hard parts.
If you're considering it: try it first. Do a few months of consecutive sits before giving up your lease. See how you feel. Then decide.