I stumbled upon this site and thought it might have interesting possiblities for people who want a place to stay for cheap and want to try an alternative to hosteling. Granted, you may wind up taking care of people's pets or what not......but it could be cool to have a nice, free house in Australia for instance to stay in for an extended period. Not sure how easy it would be to get a house sitting gig long distance, i.e. many people would likely want a face to face meeting?? I don't know. Maybe if your already there, and would like a nice comfy house as a change from your hostel room. Anyway...I thought this could be interesting for someone. This site is based in Australia, but has some ads in the U.S. and England as well and covers the world, apparently. I would be curious to know if anyone has used house sitting as a way to get cheap lodging while traveling.

House Sit Ads

Hmmm... verrry eeenteresting.

I remember back in school, people would advertise for house-sitting gigs and apartment-swaps in our college newspaper. There were opportunities to stay in Europe, etc. I never called any since I never had the ability to travel at the time, but I always thought it was amazing that people were willing to swap homes with a stranger for a month, or weirder yet, simply let them house sit. Now that I think about it, I'd probably be up for a swap. Someone else can put up with my roomies' idiosyncracies for a while :P

The swap idea works because in theory both parties have property and will respect thier swappers in turn. Letting some dude in the local hostel come hang out for a couple weeks sounds pretty risky. Though being the guy in the hostel, it would be awesome.

Sounds cool to me, I'd totally love to house sit someone's house in Oz for a month or so.

That brings up a new question:
If you're putting your profile up on that site as a possible house-sitter, how do you try to make people think that a 20 something year old American who really is doing it just to travel, and not cuz they have the altruistic desire to make absolutely certain that your Shit-Zu Precious' well being is the first thing on their mind, is someone that you really want watching your valuables for a month?? ;)

damn, though... $45 Aus?

I found one I'd like to e-mail the people, but especially when there is no guarantee I'd be selected to watch their house...seems like a lot of $$$ to fork over.

hmmm the website looks fairly dodgy, are u sure this isnt a scam? Auzzies are fairly private especially in their own homes, so cant think of too many people that would be happy to do this. But I spose there would be a few...

and there isnt many houses to see here either, it all screams scam to me. I wouldnt touch it.

The sites I'd heard about were all ones that wanted to swap houses, not house sitting. In theory, (in a perfect world) it would be awsome!... you take care of my place... I travel without having to worry....

Course, it probably wouldn't help if you live in some place that nobody wants to travel to, but still...

But the vast majority of Australias population lives right near the beach. If I had a house to swap, Id swap it with an Aussie.

Som define close to the beach? most ppl i know live at least 1/2 hour drive from the beach. and i guess in sydney or so it could be up to 2 or even 3 hours.

If u really want to house sit in oz, the first thing u need to do is get some references. (maybe see if u can house sit for some relos (with a different surname)/ friends for a wekk or so)
then u need to find a reputable copany to deal with. i know someone who housesits permanently and hes now high up on the list of house sitters so he can always get a job. i expect that when u sign up u may have to wait a while before u can get a job.
If u can show experience looking after pets/ gardens would be a bonus too.