House Sitting Tasmania has grown considerably since autumn and we are so excited and thrilled to have so many new members on board. We are delighted to be connecting Tasmanian home owners with house sitters, just have a look at our Testimonials page to see all the wonderful feedback!

Recently we conducted a survey to members and responses were well worth it. We're always keen to improve what we do best, and there were some very constructive points made. We have taken it all on board and begun the road to make some even better modifications to our website which is exciting! Our home owners and house sitters are at the forefront of what we do and it is important that we consistently strive to improve and cater the experience to be nothing but positive. We didn't create House Sitting Tasmania to be like all other house sitting websites, as unique as we are we do know that in website-land some things work better than others and we definitely want our functionalities to be seamless and user friendly for members.

We also stress that listings and profiles are entirely member's responsibility to edit, deactivate or delete as we have close to 200 members and we do not manage communications between home owners/house sitters, nor are we mind readers to know when a sitting assignment has been filled! We have sent members detailed instructions now for how to manage listings a few times, and instructions are available now on our website in FAQ section. Remember, please remove your home listing if you have found a house sitter. We are sure there is nothing more frustrating than being contacted continuously by house sitters, or as a house sitter - finding the listing is already sadly filled.

In other news, winter has well and truly hit Tasmania and there are a large number of our home owners escaping for a little warmth and sunshine, so there are new house sits being posted each week! House sitters are in for a treat with many great Tasmanian locations offering great winter getaways to the snow, wood fires and scenic views. Dark Mofo has also hit our shores with Dark Park opened two days ago, and the Winter Feast next week. What more could you ask for! Jump in and join us, from only $19 your next winter getaway for FREE! House sitting is not just for house sitters - home owners, you can do it too!

To help us with this process we plan to undertake a survey in the coming weeks to hear your thoughts and offer us further information to maximise the local and personal experience with House Sitting Tasmania. We have a unique and exclusive community platform which is growing by the day and most importantly, we always put our home owners and house sitters at the core of everything we do!

Have any queries or feedback? Drop us a line! housesittingtasmania@gmail.com

My name is Olivia, I'm 24 have been a police officer for the past 5 years. I have been house sitting solidly for the past 2 and a half years and I have known Rachel and Shaun since 2014. We met when while sharing a house sit. Since then we have kept in contact and remained good friends, helping out with house sits and referring home owners!

When did you start house sitting, and why?

Since leaving school I occasionally looked after houses and pets for friends and family. After returning from a 6 week holiday in Europe at the end of 2013 I decided renting wasn't for me. I didn't want to pay for someone else's mortgage. I house sat for another family friend and they jokingly said I should do it for a living.

It all started from there! The more I looked into it the more I liked the idea of living rent free. I briefly considered share houses, but as a shift working police officer I wanted to come home to my own space at the end of the day. Before I started house sitting I was living with my parents and three younger sisters in a three bedroom house in Blackmans Bay. Safe to say there was not a lot of privacy or room. I was working a 40min drive away from home doing shift work, so living closer to town was also an attractive idea. I was able to come home and not disturb the rest of my family.

What did you find most appealing about house sitting, have there been some great experiences you can share?

I have stayed in some amazing houses! Friends joked about me living out of a suitcase and 'sleeping around', but I found it liberating not to have an enormous amount of possessions. Along the way I discovered exactly what I wanted when I eventually purchased my own home. As well as what kind of pet and suburb would be suitable for me.

I took it as an opportunity to road test what suburbs I would like to eventually live in.

- Looking after a house for 2 months whilst the owner was over seas, an Australia Post slip to pick up a package arrived in the letter box. I had to show my police ID at the post office and explain that I was house sitting and couldn't provide identification with my name and the house sitting address on it.

- Another time I arrived home at 2am to find the dog had shredded a toilet roll all over the lounge room floor. The home owner found it very amusing when I sent her the 'dog shaming' picture the following day of the dog sitting in the middle of it. Picture attached!

- A cat in South Hobart caught a bird and bought it inside on my birthday, before letting it go and it flying all around the house. That was the same time it snowed in Hobart, which was magical!

- A cat in Lenah Valley helped me out with studying by lying all over my books

- I took a chocolate Labrador to the Million Paws walk and ended up on the evening news (see photo!)

- I looked after a rainbow lorikeet in North Hobart

Would you recommend house sitting in Tasmania to others?

I would highly recommend house sitting to anyone who wants to meet new people and pets, save a few dollars and see this beautiful state!

Has house sitting been rewarding for you in other ways as well as saving money?

I have met some incredible people through house sitting. I have had several houses that I have looked after multiple times and they have referred me on to more opportunities.

I have house sat in Kingston, South Hobart, Tolmans Hill, North Hobart, Montagu Bay, Bellerive, Howrah, Tranmere, Oakdowns, Lauderdale, Geilston Bay, Glenorchy, Acton Park, Battery Point and West Moonah..... It has been fantastic! I have also met a lot of interesting people and made life long friends.

What have you been able to do with the money you have saved?

With the money I have saved through house sitting I have been able to save a deposit and recently purchased my first home all by myself. I have been disciplined and put away each week what I would have been paying in rent - it doesn't take long to build up!

How does it feel now to be living in your own home, do you think you'll miss the house sitting lifestyle?

I have been living in my house for a week now and for the moment it feels like a glorified house sit. I still have a few short house sits to complete before I officially retire, but yes I will miss aspects of meeting new and exciting pets. I will be looking for a suitable house sitters in years to come and the first place I will look will be House Sitting Tasmania!

Do you have any handy tips or pointers for future house sitters?

- Put yourself out there on the net, you don't know who is looking

- Make it clear how many hours you will be available to look after pets/house through out the day

- Be organised and prompt when communicating with house owners

- Always visit the house, meet the pets and be fully aware of what owners expect from you before committing to the house sit

- Some good ideas to ask about for your checklist:

- When is rubbish/bin empty day

- Where is the meter box

- Emergency contact details if something happens with the house (repairs, maintenance etc)

- What are preferred vet details

- Do you have spare house keys

- Questions around spare bed linen

- Always confirm the dates and times that home owners depart and return

Why did you consider house sitting?

House sitting used to be one of those things that we’d been watching with interest for some time before taking the plunge ourselves. Abby, our faithful German Shepherd had passed away the year before and we realised that house sitting could provides us with the opportunity to not only get our ‘pet fix’, but to also save us a lot of money and help us pay off our mortgage.

Umming and aahing, it was our decision to move to Europe in late 2016 that finally tipped us over the edge. The house sitting opportunities across Europe are extensive, and the potential savings in accommodation are significant. House sitting also clearly suited our slower style of travel, and would allow us to live like a local and see parts of Europe that are off the tourist trail. Building a solid list of house sitting references in Tasmanian beforehand would go a long way towards helping us making our move to Europe a much more realistic, and authentic experience!

What do you enjoy most about it?

House sitting has certainly satisfied our need for pets. Dogs, cats, fish, sheep, ducks, guinea pigs and rabbits...we’ve seem them all and we love it!

On the other hand, in our spare time we’ve always enjoyed trying new restaurants across Hobart and Tasmania and blogging our thoughts at Two Clowns Tripping. House sitting has given us the incredible opportunity to explore all sorts of interesting suburbs and regions that we previously would have driven straight through. As a result, we’ve found an unbelievable number of new and exciting suburban cafes and restaurants to share with our readers.

Where have you been so far?

Our house sitting locations have been quite varied so far, starting at the gorgeous Clifton Beach, to Kingston in the south (great views of Mt Wellington!), Bridgewater in the north, and a number of houses around Moonah, Lenah Valley and North Hobart.

Have you got a funny story you can share with us, or perhaps something peculiar you have experienced along the way?

House sitting can result in some pretty random experiences! On only our second house sit we were woken up in the wee hours of the morning by one very determined little terrier who had jumped up onto the bed, scooted under the doona and made herself very comfortable at waist level! Who needs an electric blanket when you’ve got a super friendly Cairn Terrier in the house?!

We also found ourselves needing to put our thinking caps on recently when one of the sheep we were looking after managed to pull a Houdini and escape her enclosure in the middle of the night! Some super sleuthing and an afternoon of spying on its movements resulted in us working out the escape route. A little bit of handiwork with a half dozen plastic ties and the well-disguised gap in the fence was closed, much to our relief!

Have you developed new friendships, or broadened your networks since house sitting?

It’s been fantastic getting to know Rach and Shaun from House Sitting Tasmania. They coordinate the whole process very professionally, but are really friendly and willing to support their house sitters wherever necessary.

One of the little ‘extras’ that we offer as a house sitting couple is a free portfolio of high quality photographs of the pets that we look after. It’s been great seeing the response from the many home owners that we’ve met and it’s resulted in us building a more personal and friendly connection than if we limited our interactions to the house sitting only.

Would you recommend others to start house sitting, what would be your message to them?

We’d definitely recommend the house sitting lifestyle!

However, it’s really important to realise that it isn’t a holiday at someone else’s expense.

The responsibility of looking after someone’s home and their beloved pets is significant, and you need to ensure that everything is in better condition at the end of the house sit than when you first started. Clear and regular communication is critical in keeping homeowners up to date and reassured that everything is under control.

You also need to be flexible, reliable and adaptable, as plans can and do change at the last minute.

At the same time, you’ll have a ball! The crazy pets will keep you entertained for hours, and the various locations are always throwing up new experiences and adventures in you’ve got an open mind.

We don’t regret it for an instant!

Wow...where did summer go? Though you'd think it was still summer, the sun is shining and the warm afternoons are still lingering. What a busy few months we have had! House Sitting Tasmania is still working hard behind the scenes writing and looking after the continuous trail of new members coming on board. The enquiries never stop and now the March long weekend is nearly upon us as well as Easter at the end of the month. If you are going away and looking for a house or pet sitter or thinking about becoming a house sitter, NOW is the time! Join House Sitting Tasmania today. All that you will pay is your membership fee to access our community and start connecting with home owners and house sitters. Membership starts at just $19 for 3 months, $39 for 6 months and $69 for 12 months. That's cheaper than most pet boarding fees per day! House sitting is free. Unlike pet or sitter agencies house sitters do not charge fees.

We are about to venture to New Town for the weekend after a short stay in Lauderdale this week. We both continue to be heavily booked this year and looking to settle in our own home hopefully by Christmas. More to follow, we are very excited to see the great number of members who are posting listings. Remember - posting a listing or profile with a good amount of information especially with images increases your chances to gain a house sitter or a house sitting assignment. If you have not posted your listing as yet, we recommend that you do - plenty of home owners and house sitters are waiting to hear from you!

We are currently in South Hobart looking after Fergus, a beautiful Maltese cross - what a fantastic name hey! We love the proximity to wonderful walking tracks and local cafes in the area, we took Fergus for a walk to Ginger Brown yesterday morning, he is such a social butterfly!

You may have noticed that we have been in the media lately, and we have been lucky enough to have our story featured in The Mercury. We were very excited that this directly promoted House Sitting Tasmania and increased awareness of the house sitting movement as we truly believe this lifestyle and benefits are beneficial for all Tasmanians!

We are currently writing material and there will be more to come in the next few months, if you are a member please take a look at some of the wonderful listings available. Tell all your family and friends, this is the place to be for house sitting!

Til next time,
Shaun & Rachel