We’ve been house sitting for many years now and have 25+ sits under our belts. In this post, I’ll explore the ins and outs of multiple, consecutive house sits located all in one general location. Read on to learn how to navigate back-to-back house sitting.
What is Back-to-Back House Sitting?
When I say ‘back-to-back’ house sitting, I’m talking about more than one house sit in the same location – maybe the same city or region. These house sits run consecutively, ideally with no gap in between. For example, you would leave a house sit on a Sunday morning and start your next house sit later that same day.
Although it requires careful planning, there are many benefits to this house sitting approach. This is especially true if you want to extend your time and make the most of being in a particular location. Or, if you have time to spare and want to meet new people and live like a local for a while.
I’m going to delve into the ins and outs of back-to-back house sitting so you know what to expect.
Why Should You Consider Back-to-Back House Sitting?
Why not? We’ve tried our hand at back-to-back house sits several times. Our record is three sits in one month whilst we were in Singapore. We have also completed three back-to-back sits in the UK and Nashville.
One of the reasons we choose to house sit, is because we love meeting new people. We love feeling like we are living in a place, rather than just passing through. We like to live like locals, rather than tourists. As such we always try to apply for longer-term sits. However, if we can’t get one sit for our planned duration, a couple of shorter ones can still work.
Back-to-back house sits are perfect if you want to use house sitting to travel, but can’t quite find one sit to cover all the time you want to spend in a place. Instead of leaving a location earlier than you’d like, or spending money on hotels, considering more than one sit can cost-efficiently extend your time in the place you want to be.
Pros of Back-to-Back House Sitting
I’ve outlined some key pros and cons of back-to-back house sitting.
Pros
- Experience more of a location – You’ll be staying in several different areas of the same city or region. This allows you to really experience different sides of a location. This style of travel provides a true picture of what it’s like to live in a place and allows you to find your favorite bars and coffee shops in each area.
- A variety of pets – Of course, the more house sits, the more pets you’ll get to love and care for. Embracing different dog walking routes will truly help you explore a city.
- Save money – Popular locations mean expensive accommodation options. If you are a full-time traveler or perhaps want to spend an extended vacation period in a place, multiple house sits are are a great option. Rather than splashing out on 4 weeks in a hotel or an Airbnb, multiple house sits will save you a fortune on accommodation.
- Extend your time – Without having to splurge on accommodation, you can spend much longer in a location and enjoy all that it has to offer. This is better than having to squeeze everything into one week to stay within budget.
- Meet more people – One of the things we love about house sitting is the hosts we meet. We’re still in touch with many of them years after the sit has finished and will visit them again as guests. Hosts have the best recommendations on things to do, places to eat, and insider knowledge you won’t find in a Google search.
- More reviews – The more housesits you do, the more potential there is for reviews, which will bolster your profile. This will put you in a good position for future sit applications.
Cons of Back-to-Back House Sitting
Cons
- It takes some planning – This approach to house sitting takes some planning and perseverance (see the next section).
- Know your travel times – Bigger regions and even bigger cities might not be that easy to traverse in an hour. Do your research. Plan a route in advance from one house sit to the other if you are ending and starting one on the same day. Before accepting or applying for a second or third sit, make sure you can get where you need to be on time.
- Multiple locations can be stressful – This kind of house sitting involves a lot of moving around. You’ll be adapting to new surroundings, new people, and new animals without a break in between. This type of travel isn’t for everyone, so know your comfort zone before embarking on something like this.
- Dates and times can’t be as flexible – You’ll need to be at your next house sit probably the same day as another one you are finishing. Subsequently, there is little room for flexibility with times and dates. Be transparent with your hosts and let them know that you must leave their home by a certain time.
How Do You Secure Back-to-Back House Sits?
You can secure back-to-back house sits with some careful planning and good communication.
To get this right, you’ll first need to consider locations that have plenty of house sitting opportunities. You might not be successful in all your applications, and not all sits advertised will suit you. You need a good quantity to go at.
Choosing a location like London, which has a high number of sits available will give you plenty of options. A more remote location with fewer sit opportunities, like Barbados, will seriously limit you.
Applying for Back-to-Back House Sits
Here is one key bit of advice if you are looking to secure some back-to-back house sitting jobs. Don’t expect to get everything booked and organized ahead of time. It’s unlikely that in the space of a couple of days, you’ll apply AND be successful in securing all the exact sits you want in the same location. That would be nice, but it rarely happens.
Once you have your first sit confirmed in a location, use the member features on sites like Trusted Housesitters to set up alerts. You can enter the exact location and dates required and wait for the alerts to pop up. You’ll likely secure one sit first, and then other ones over time, in the lead-up to your first assignment.
The perfect multiple sit could even come in whilst you are on your first assignment in a location. We’ve seen so many sits come up as urgent and last minute. Either because a previously booked house sitter has canceled or the host has to unexpectedly go out of town.
If you are already in a city you could be ready to jump in and help a host out. You’ll stand a good chance of securing another sit in the same location and extending your stay with a back-to-back sit. It’s also reassuring to a host that a potential sitter is already in their location or has confirmed plans to be. They’ll have confidence that you are unlikely to cancel.
What If I Can’t Get Back-to-Back House Sitting Dates?
If you can’t get back-to-back house sits confirmed, don’t panic.
Keep your alerts updated with sites like THS in the lead-up to your trip and whilst you are in your location. This is the best way to keep on the pulse with house sit opportunities. You might see a last-minute urgent sit come up. You could be the lifeline a host needs as you are in the area finishing up another sit, and ready to go help them out.
Consider booking accommodation for a night or two if the dates don’t line up exactly. If you see a sit that looks good, but it doesn’t start until 2 days after your first assignment finishes, don’t be put off. Apply for the second one and if you secure it, you’re still only paying for 2 nights of accommodation instead of many more. You’ll have a couple of days to yourself before the second house sit starts to enjoy.
Offer to Arrive Early
You could offer to arrive a day or two earlier to the second sit you have your eye on. Most hosts would appreciate the opportunity for a face-to-face handover. If they have the room, it would be a great chance to get to know each other over a couple of days. It might also mean that they can start their trip a little earlier, and you could save on those extra accommodations.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket by just using one house sitting site. Many hosts only use one site, so you could be missing a trick if you only search on one house sitting platform. Keep your eyes open across multiple sites. A second or third sit that lines up with your dates in the ideal location could be waiting for you elsewhere.
Great secondary house sitting options include Mind My House, Nomidor, and Workaway. They all have very cheap annual memberships and could be worth their weight in gold when looking to secure back-to-back house sits.
Book Free Cancelation Options
It would take a brave soul to head off on a travel adventure banking on the right house sitting assignments coming up. And it’s difficult to know where to begin without some structure to a travel plan. My advice is to book hotel or apartment listings that come with free cancelation options to fill any gaps between house sits and/or to get your plans rolling.
Most websites like Booking.com and Airbnb have excellent policies that allow you to change your plans for free, often up to the last minute. This means that should a house sit come up that you’d like to apply for, you can feel free to do so without losing any money on your previous booking. This kind of flexibility is key to securing back-to-back house sits.
Where Have We Undertaken Back-to-Back House Sits?
Here are a few of our back-to-back house sitting experiences in the last few years;
Nashville, TN, USA
On Christmas Eve in 2022, we landed in Nashville. We flew directly from Texas that morning, after leaving another house sit in much warmer weather! We had a 5 night sit in a great area of town, caring for two boisterous dogs and a quiet cat. On the morning of our sixth day, we simply booked an Uber to the other side of Nashville. We had to be there by lunchtime so our second hosts could get to the airport.
We never actually met the first hosts. They were due to return late that evening so knowing ahead of time that we had to depart, they had organized for a neighbor to check in and give the dogs a walk and feed them.
So, with a little advance planning, our leaving one and arriving at the second house sit, suited both sets of hosts, and us, perfectly. We stayed for 5 weeks without paying for a night of accommodation. And in a city without many affordable hotel options, that saved us a lot of money. Check out our guide to house sitting in Nashville for more information on this great city.
Singapore
We stayed in Singapore for exactly one month but completed 3 house sits whilst we were there. Our first was caring for a little house rabbit called Papook. A cab took us straight from the airport to the host’s house. We started our first sit within minutes of getting off the plane.
After applying and securing this sit, another came up on Trusted Housesitters in Singapore for the day after sit 1 finished. We applied for this second sit, and were successful. This meant we had 2 back-to-back sits booked with just one night in a hotel to ourselves for our first 2 and a half weeks in the city.
During our first sit, we saw a last-minute sit advertised in Singapore. As luck would have it, it started the very day our second sit finished. We applied and got the sit. We left at lunchtime, hopped in a taxi, and arrived as scheduled at Singapore house sit number 3. The timing between the final two just fit together perfectly.
Bath, UK
We enjoyed another back-to-back house sitting experience back home in the UK during the summer of 2023. After a short visit with friends and family, we headed to England’s west coast for an amazing house sit in the city of Bath.
The month-long house sit was so great that we extended our time in the region by again using the THS alerts to secure another sit close by. Once more, the dates didn’t quite fit perfectly, we had to book one night’s accommodation between the two sits. But as the second sit was for 3 weeks, it meant we had 7 weeks of accommodation for the price of one night in a hotel.
The Bath sit even made it into Rob’s 5 favorite house sits so far. Read his article about it here – A Review of 5 Amazing House Sitting Experiences
Conclusion
There you have it. Some things to consider if you’re thinking of embarking on a back-to-back house sitting journey.
House sitting is a great way to travel, and being able to secure multiple sits in one location has many benefits – not least the saved accommodation costs and the extended time it allows you to enjoy a place.
Happy house sitting!
Further House Sitting Info
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