Save money on your winter bills by becoming a homesitter

Posted on 6 November, 2017

Homesitters Martin and Kristine Bell

Winter can see your energy bills shoot up, especially for those that are retired who tend to be at home more during the day. There is a solution though that many won’t have thought of. Become a homesitter.

Most of our homesitters are retired people in their 50s, 60s and 70s who wanted to do something different with their time. Becoming a homesitter gives people the chance to travel throughout the UK, stay in some wonderful homes and look after pets.

The main role of a homesitter is to take care of people’s homes and pets whilst they are away. Increasingly, people are turning to homesitters as it gives them peace of mind their home is safe and secure and that any pets they have are looked after in their home environment.

For dogs and cats in particular this can be really important as many can get stressed if they have to go and stay elsewhere, especially if that’s a kennel or cattery.

Financially becoming a homesitter can also make sense. While on assignment, homesitters receive a daily food allowance and travel expenses (both tax free), as well as earn a modest remuneration to supplement their income.

Home and pet sitting also provides an opportunity to make considerable savings on household bills, especially during the winter months. For homesitters that take on a lot of assignments throughout the year, these savings can make a big difference especially for those on limited incomes.

One retired couple, Martin and Kristine Bell from Nottingham decided to become homesitters in 2016. The couple didn’t want to sit around doing nothing during their retirement and were keen to get out, meet new people and visit new places, and home and pet sitting seemed a good way of doing this.

The Bells are thoroughly enjoying their new home and pet sitting lifestyle, they spend the evenings reading, or doing crosswords and Sudoku puzzles and Kristine enjoys knitting. In one home there was a large dining room table, so they did a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle over the course of their stay.

Martin says, “The best way of spending the evening is having a dog on your knee or by your feet to stroke while you’re reading, it gives us a great feeling of contentment – and the dog too! We’re just ordinary people doing ordinary things and getting the maximum benefit from our retirement.

“You’d be surprised how many people aren’t aware that home and pet sitting is a job and we’d recommend it to anyone who’s retired. Where else would you get the opportunity to stay in different homes in new places and experience other people’s pets and lifestyles and not have to pay lots of money to do it?”

If home and pet sitting sounds like something you’d be interested in please click here to find out more or call us on 01296 630 730. .

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