How to Get a 30% Discount on a Trusted Housesitters Annual Membership

As a converted “Trusted Housesitter” myself, I’m so pleased to share my referral link to get you guys a 30% discount on any annual membership! I’ve never seen a discount higher than 20% off, so this is really exciting. Try it out for the year and let me know how you fare with it! Not sure yet? Keep reading to learn more about it!

Here’s my referral link 🙂

How does Trusted Housesitters work?

If you’re curious about how Trusted Housesitters works, you can start by browsing their website! It’s totally free to do so. You can browse the hundreds of listings available, but won’t be able to apply to any of the sits until you purchase a membership.

So here’s a summary: Trusted Housesitters is an exclusive platform to connect pet owners seeking an in-home sitter to travelers seeking free accommodation. House sitters will communicate their interest to the owners and prove their trustworthiness to take care of the owners’ pets and home via a simple application. Money is left out of the equation, which makes it a mutually beneficial relationship without the awkwardness of knowing if you’re overpaying or underpaying for the house sitting exchange.

You first make a decision to apply to be either a sitter or a host. I applied to be a sitter, since I was interested in traveling with free accommodations.

The current price of a basic membership is $119. It is only $83 if you use my 30% off referral link! Then you’re in for a whole year! Start applying to any sit you’d like! 

Can you be a house sitter full time?

Though it would require a significant investment of time and effort to accomplish such a feat, you’re not the first one to ask this question or attempt this.

Living a life of serial housesitting can save you money on rent – Especially if you have a car of your own and are within driving distance to a larger city. Living in a larger city will help you with getting lucky in finding consecutive housesits that don’t require too much travel costs and arrangements.

You’ll have to make sure to get the hang of applying to jobs, so that you can really impress the owners and cinch up every job you want. That means being responsive, available and communicative. Make sure your profile is up to date with your availability and clear photos of yourself and anyone who will be sitting with you (significant others/family).

Once you get your first couple of gigs, you’ll be on your way to building a great reputation. Future owners will be able to read your positive reviews and feel they can trust you with their pets and home. 

Is Trusted Housesitters worth the money?

I just want to write a disclaimer that this post is totally unsponsored. So these opinions are fully my own based on my personal experience.

With that said, yes, I believe Trusted Housesitters is certainly worth the money. 

Let’s say you spend $119 (or, if you’re reading this while my 30% off referral link is still up – $83) for the basic annual sitter membership. 

That is equivalent to 1 night’s stay at a hotel in most cities. Except by using Trusted Housesitters, you may find yourself with a comparatively luxurious accommodation for anywhere from 2 nights to 2 months. (Or more? I don’t know – Haven’t seen that yet.) 

Something that I learned through the process of using Trusted Housesitters is that owners will often prefer you come a day early to meet the pets and get oriented with the home. This isn’t always the case, but just keep it in mind that you may be required to book a hotel for your first night’s stay. 

Also, be aware of sits that would require you to get a rental car. Especially at the time of writing this, rental car prices are through the roof – and can easily add up to make the travels expensive again. 

Luckily, the Trusted Housesitters platform allows you to filter listings to only view listings that include the use of the owners’ car! Our first house sit actually offered use of their car in Phoenix, AZ – and it REALLY helped make our trip possible!

Potential Cons of Trusted Housesitters

Trusted Housesitters takes a lot of time and emotional energy. There are always new results popping up on your saved search, which is obviously great – but it takes a lot of time to sort through the noise and find sits that you think would actually fit your needs.

Once you find a potential match, it takes quite a lot of effort to study their listing, and respond via your application. It makes a big difference to customize your application to fit the listing and owners needs. Show that you’ve put the time into learning about their pets and home and explain to them why you’re best suited for the job. There is a lot of competition out there, and you’ll have to shine the best.

It’s like applying for a job. Except there’s an awesome free house at an amazing location on the line. Plus…puppies. Puppies and kitties are on the line.

This is where the emotional energy comes into play. Soon you’ve written 6 different applications in 1 week – each one pouring your heart and soul into. Then you might get 1 phone call interview, and you might get rejected.

Out of dozens of applications, there will only be one true fit. Thankfully, it is a two-way relationship, and if it doesn’t work for you, it won’t work for them either. On the other hand, when it works out, both parties are very, very happy.

The other “con” of Trusted Housesitters in my opinion is that there is always anxiety about last minute changes or cancellations after travel plans have been made.

After weeks of emotional energy, I landed us a gig in San Francisco. It was perfect. It was exciting. It was amazing. Until there was a miscommunication, and the flights I booked weren’t going to work. 

Well, then I was stuck with no trip. And 2 tickets to San Fran that I couldn’t use. There went $200 down the drain for cancellation fees.

Safe to say I felt very anxious about purchasing our flights/hotel the next time round.

For this reason, I wish there was some kind of binding agreement. I would suggest to Trusted Housesitters to add a $200 deposit for both parties – owner and sitter. This way both parties feel their chosen sit/sitter is serious, and if one cancels, the other may receive some compensation.

So what do you think? Will you give Trusted Housesitters a try? Do you think it’s worth it!

Thanks for reading and as always, feel free to follow my adventures @TheMonthlyMigrant on Instagram 🙂