You’ve decided to try your hand at house and pet sitting?
Great idea! It’s a fantastic way to visit new locations while saving lots of money on one of the biggest travel expenses of all: accommodation.
No doubt you’ve already searched the web to find house and pet sitting services that can put you into contact with home and pet owners looking for sitters right across Australia.
But if you’ve done your homework, you may also have noticed that terms and conditions vary quite considerably from service to service.
It’s really important to read the fine print so that you know exactly what you’re getting for your membership dollar – but to make that task less daunting, here a three top tips to help you find a service that ticks all the right boxes.
- Membership Fees: Not surprisingly, some services charge a lot more than others. Check out the fee structures carefully and take note of the time frame involved. Is it an annual fee? Half-yearly? Do the maths to make sure that you’re comparing apples with apples. For example, a $25 fee looks fine … until you realise that it’s only a quarterly payment which in the long term may work out to be considerably more expensive than a full 12 month membership offered by another provider.
- National or Not: This is an important consideration. Some house and pet sitting services charge multiple fees in order for you to access listings for different regions. That can become quite expensive and it’s a trap definitely best avoided. Mindahome allows you to search house sitting positions in every region across Australia for the one membership fee.
- Website Woes: You know the feeling. You jump onto a website and spend the next fifteen minutes trying to navigate your way around. You find what you were looking for – Eureka! But take care. One wrong click and the page disappears never to be found again. Frustrating? You bet! So, look for a service that offers a well-designed website where you can access the information you’re after quickly and painlessly.
The take home message? Don’t rush into signing up with any service until you’ve done your research. Once you’ve found the service that gives you the best chance at landing a house sitting gig and offers the best value for money, you can launch into your house sitting adventures in grand, not to mention economical, style.