10 Things We Learned From Our 1st House Sit
Early this month we completed our very first house sit (via TrustedHousesitters — here’s our referral link for a 20% off membership discount!). In fact, the first day of our sit was also our 11th wedding anniversary and the homeowners surprised us with a delicious bottle of champagne, fresh flowers, and a sweet note — it was the perfect way for us to celebrate the occasion and begin 2018! We enjoyed the bubbly that evening in their hot tub overlooking an expansive and private nighttime view of the west Austin hills.
Because we just recently joined the TrustedHousesitters community (read about the process here) our focus was on building a stellar profile. We put in a lot of effort upfront to do this (thoroughly completing our page, getting referrals and all verifications, etc.), all we needed were actual reviews from sitting for other site members. In order to gain the most experience and build up reviews more quickly we decided to go for short sits at first, so this one was just under four days long.
I had brought my computer and planned to get some work done but ended up not even touching it as I was kept plenty busy with caring for the house and pets for pretty much the entire time. Being immersed in someone else’s home environment, even for this short period of time, exposed us to a number of new things that we were happy to learn and are now excited to share!
1. With a big property and/or lots of responsibilities, give yourself more time.
Nathan and I both decided at least one week would have been best for this sit. It involved caring for two dogs (one elderly and on medication), one cat, and a four bedroom house with pool, hot tub, two small greenhouses, and numerous raised garden beds. It also had a guesthouse but that didn’t need our attention while we were there. Everything else did to some extent, even though it’s technically winter so most upkeep was light (a Texas winter isn’t much). Still, we are used to small spaces, no kids or pets to care for, and haven’t had a yard or garden that needs maintenance in a few years. That plus the extra energy and effort that goes into learning someone else’s routines meant that things the owners could surely get done quickly took us at least twice as long, and by the time we were getting familiar with the day to day, the sit was over. The entire last day was spent cleaning and preparing the house for the owners return, and that was a quarter of our stay. A few more days would have likely given us the opportunity to relax more.
2. It can be challenging to balance a day job and a house sit.
This was a local sit for us but Nathan still worked remotely two of the days we were there so that he could participate in the chores and get the experience of holding down a day job while house sitting. It was definitely a challenge for him as it turned out to be a very busy week at his office. Not only did it require extra thought to plan his breaks for chores, but we quickly learned there was an additional need for clearer communication between the two of us.
There were many times I tried to say something to him and didn’t realize he was on a call (he wears a bluetooth earpiece making it hard to tell). Then there was the time he agreed to go with me on a morning dog walk and we learned how much his attention was divided since he was still on call. It all worked out as we were quick to respond to things as they came up, and Nathan welcomed the challenge to get even better at managing his job. But it made a real impression on us both about working together and balancing other day job work with house sitting work (a unique and legitimate kind of job unto itself that shouldn’t be underestimated).
3. Catnip and CatTV on YouTube is fantastic, for cats and for humans!
Two years ago I cared for three stray cats that visited my studio and I tried catnip and cat toys, but they gave no shits about either of those things. At this sit I got to experience the full joy and glory of catnip (the herb that *some* cats love to eat and roll around in). Their kitty enjoyed it as an evening treat at the foot of mom and dad’s bed, and he knew when it was time for it too!
We were also introduced to the hilarity of YouTube videos made just for cats (there are also ones for other animals) that feature scenes of birds and squirrels doing their thing out in the wild or digital graphics of slow moving string or mouse tails across the screen. I put these videos on my iPad and loved every minute of watching Vittles watch with curious intensity, paw at the screen, and explore behind the iPad when it was upright in search of where the critters were escaping to. So much fun for us both!
4. My cat allergies cannot stop me from enjoying the kittles.
Speaking of kitty cats, yes I’m allergic. And on this sit we intentionally tested my response with the owners sweet long haired boy (we also thought this sit would be good for this because they had no carpet and clearly kept a clean home). Also, yes we did inform them of my allergies and that I would be taking a daily anti-histamine to combat them. That one pill a day and my usual cat encounter routine of washing my hands after every petting returned excellent results and I only had a bit of itching in my eyes one morning for about an hour (I got eye drops after that but barely used them). I spared no kitty cuddle while we were there as I love cats and have greatly missed out on having them as companions. It was a little rough on my hands to be washing them so much in the dry season (I also washed them more on behalf of the dogs too) and taking a daily antihistamine is not my preference, but it was such a win to know I can share living space with a cat and not be miserable.
5. There is a proper way to walk a dog.
Being a fan of The Dog Whisperer Cesar Milan I was already familiar with some dog wisdom that I definitely did not learn growing up despite all the dogs we had and that I was around. But the home owners little Yorkie definitely made this knowledge real when on our first walk she challenged me all the way down the street. Walking a dog seems pretty simple and straight forward so when it was time for us to get some sun I grabbed the leash and headed out without any concern. But we didn’t even make it out the driveway before I saw this was going to be an issue as this little girl didn’t just “go”. She continually stopped, walked into the middle of the road, pulled against my leash directions, and looked at me as if she was expecting me to do something different the entire time. She even defiantly sat down in the middle of someones driveway as if to say “Lady, I’m done with you and this disaster you call a walk”.
My response was to hit the internet and get a refresher then test my skills out on our walk the next morning. Thankfully, it was a huge success! The first change I made was swapping out her retractable leash that had a thin cord for the one with a thick strap that I could hold like a traditional (non-retractable) leash, which I attached directly to her collar instead of her harness. I held the leash in a particular way so that it wouldn’t pull on her and kept it short so she walked right beside me (as opposed to the “dog in front” position). I also adjusted my mindset and did not attempt to listen to my audiobook on this second walk, giving all my attention to what we were doing and taking my rightful position as the pack leader. Those changes made all the difference and she stayed out of the street, only stopped to sniff a few times (which I could allow or not as the pack leader), and was much more responsive to the very few times I needed to “correct” her or get her attention by giving a quick tug on the leash. Here’s an article I really liked that goes into these techniques more.
6. Electrical appliances can be tricky and surprising.
We encountered two types of tricky electrical appliances on this sit. First there was the stove which reminded us (or rather me) about the various thresholds of heating elements. At our own home we have a crappy electric stove and use cast iron skillets. The medium setting is required for most of our cooking purposes. This home had a gas stove with a MUCH lower heating threshold, and they had stainless steel cookware. Their low setting heated the same as our medium and that’s a pretty big difference. I may have burned my english muffins and had to do some pan scrubbing.
Then there were a few electrical switches which tripped us up (lol). Nathan eventually figured out how to turn on the back patio lights, and I discovered where the switch operating the laundry area light was and realized I’d been overlooking it because the OFF position was really ON, and vice versa. We never did find out how to turn on the living room floor lamps though. These were just a few common household things I imagine we’ll be likely to encounter on future house sits.
7. Homemade espresso machine lattes are awesome!
The homeowners had a well stocked kitchen that included an espresso machine, which we’ve never used before. They showed us how to operate it and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Since I have a pretty specialized coffee routine that involves coffee being blended up in our Vitamix with turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, and almond creamer, it was such a treat to have daily delicious lattes on tap that could be whipped up in two minutes. Years ago one of our friends bought one of these machines and later texted Nathan that he’d had six lattes in one day after getting it; we gained a whole new understanding of how that’s possible!
The only trouble we ran into (besides resisting overconsumption) was that their machine wasn’t a Keurig and we went to two stores trying to hunt down replacement pods for what we used only to discover that 95% of what was available was for Keurigs. Eventually we did find some that would work in their machine, but we weren’t able to find the exact ones they had. Ideally though we would have been using re-useable cups. If we move forward with acquiring such an appliance for ourselves, we will surely be looking into that.
8. We now know how yummy and interesting kumquats are.
The home owners had a kumquat tree that was in season and they shared some with us as we were given the grand tour. I honestly didn’t know what a kumquat was before then (I also got them mixed up name-wise with loquats which grow locally in Austin as well). Interestingly, you eat the whole thing (minus the seeds), including the rind of this tiny orange-like citrus fruit, because it’s actually the sweet part compared to the super tart fruit inside. I’m looking to pursue herbalism this year so I’m really enjoying learning more about culinary and medicinal plants lately.
9. Fresh high-raw salsa is as delicious as fresh roasted salsa.
The homeowners had some salsa that they left for us to enjoy with some leftover jasmine rice and black eyed peas. Being Texans we’re pretty picky about salsa and the only two kinds I even like are from local Tex-Mex spot Papasitos, and Nathan’s own fresh roasted salsa. Now we can both add a third new recipe to that short list. Apparently you just blanch some fresh tomatoes to remove the skin and then mix it with diced white onion, cilantro, maybe a little fresh jalapeno, some salt and pepper. We’ve also been looking for more simple, quick, and healthy meals to make for dinner and the combo with the rice and beans was perfect (and sooo good after an hour in the hot tub finishing off a bottle of champagne). We ended up re-filling their salsa jar with a batch of Nathan’s salsa in return as a little thank you and welcome home gift, with fresh tortilla chips of course. They loved it!
10. Prioritize communication over the cool-factor when choosing a house sit.
It’s pretty obvious why it’s important for homeowners to fully screen house sitters — as they will be placing their most precious belongings in your care. But there are also things to consider as a house sitter when screening the homeowners of a potential sit. For example, we were browsing the TrustedHousesitters site for our next opportunity after this sit and came across the chance to sit in a funky little Airstream trailer (right up our alley!). But upon further examination we realized some issues that we both think could have come back and bit us in the ass if we pursued it.
As I mentioned in the introduction to this post, we put in a ton of time and energy completing our profile (understanding the importance of building trust and demonstrating our competence), but this ad looked like it was thrown up in five minutes. There were so many details missing — including information on and pictures of the two cats that you’d be watching! Eek.
Clear and reliable communication is extremely important when getting into a house sitting arrangement (especially when you don’t yet know each other). For us this includes being able to trust that we’ll receive a timely and high quality review since we’re just getting started. So if someone doesn’t have time to properly fill our their house sit ad then that signals to us we probably can’t expect to have all the information we need to do a good job in the first place, or receive a helpful review in the end.
While there are many awesome looking sits out there, we recognized how important it is to not to get distracted by those details. Instead we need to place a higher priority on finding sits where we think there will be solid communication and a personality match (that’s important too). It’s entirely possible that everything could have turned out great with this sit we were eyeing, but it’s too great a risk when there are indications that the communication isn’t there, no matter how attractive the place looks.
This first sit gave us the best of both worlds, a lovely place to look after and excellent communication — and afterwards we received (and gave) a glowing review!
It’s pretty amazing how much we learned in such a short period of time and it only makes us even more excited for our next house sitting adventure! I hope you enjoyed this recap and learned some valuable things as well! I’ve got some more thoughts around the community aspects of house sitting, but I’ll save that for another post. ;)
Happy Housesitting!
