Trusted House Sitters Discount Code: Save 25% in 2024!

Trusted Housesitters is by far the best housesitting platform out there, and if you’re looking for a  Trusted Housesitters discount code (whether you’re considering basic pet parent membership, or a pet sitters membership to allow you to take care of pets), then you’ve found the right place for a coupon code!

The next step after you use your trusted housesitters coupons is going to be to apply for your first house sit, so along with your coupon code, we also wanted to offer our best tips for landing your first pet sitting or house sitting opportunity.

Note: This blog post contains affiliate links. When you save 25% with our promo codes, we’ll receive a commission at no cost to you. We wouldn’t recommend it if we didn’t fall in love with Trusted Housesitters in our first 25 house sits since 2022 as a family!

(If you’re a pet parent, this trusted housesitters promo code will work for you also!)

Click here for your 25% off Trusted Housesitters discount code

Save 25% on Trusted Housesitters

 

 

Is Trusted Housesitters the best platform for housesitting?

We think so (although, to be clear, it’s the only one we’ve tried) but we’ve been pet sitting since 2022 and haven’t found a reason to look for alternatives.

The primary reason we think it’s successful is that it’s grown to be the largest housesitting platform, which means it has the most housesitting opportunities, which then attracts the most users, etc…

They;ve grown to be the biggest house sitting platform by offering great service and support, background checks for pet sitters and home owners, and creating a easy-to-use app which allows us to easily search and apply for petsitting opportunities.

Can you house sit as a family with Trusted Housesitters?

As of Spring 2024, we’ve completed 25 house sits with pets and our kids – we’re not sure which are the animals. We’ve also toyed with the idea of getting away for a weekend without the kids here and there by pet sitting when we’re visiting family. We haven’t found the right dates and details yet, but since we can apply for unlimited house sits, we’re always looking.

Our Trusted Housesitters membership has taken us to multiple countries (and we have so many memories we’ve made as a family of 5)

• I almost killed a goat while pet sitting in France
• Taking a chihuahua to the Alps while house sitting in Switzerland
• Spending months at a time in England and only paying for hotels a few nights total
• How we combine house sitting with RVing

 

 

 

Most common questions we get asked about house-sitting as a family:

Do you pay to stay in people’s homes? Do they pay you to pet sit?

We pay a yearly membership fee to be part of TrustedHousesitters.com, as do the home/pet owners, and no money is exchanged between the house sitter and the homeowner:

• We don’t pay them to stay in their house.
• They don’t pay us to watch their property and care for their pets.

They get a reliable person or family to care for their home and pets, and we get a free place to stay and the company of their pets.

Based on our four nights in hotels in England when we petsat there the first time for 6 weeks (functional but not fancy hotels), we can confidently say that our trusted house sitters yearly membership was much less than the expense of a couple hotel nights overseas, and we know for home owners that a trusted housesitters membership is much less than the cost of a kennel (plus the pet gets to stay in their own home).

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by McLaughlin Family (@mclaughlinsmakingmemories)

 

How many house sits or pet care listings can you make?

Through the trusted housesitters website, as a standard pet parent, you can request pet sitters as often as you’d like. As a pet sitter, you can apply to unlimited pet care opportunities.

Many people combine pet parent listings with pet sitting listings (meaning if you’re a pet parent, you can find someone to provide pet care while you travel to pet sit somewhere else), and your trusted housesitters discount codes here are good for both portions of the membership.

 

What’s the process to find a house sit?

The homeowner lists their information: where they live, dates of their trip, and the pets you’ll be watching

(Some housesit opportunities are not pet-sits, but the majority that we’ve seen listed include pet sitting).

Listings also include additional information, like if a car is required (or if they’re property is within a reasonable walking distance to amenities, or if public transport is sufficient) and if their listing is family-friendly (whether or not their pets are suitable for children, or the host would rather not have children in their house).

As a house sitter, when we find a listing that suits us, we apply to the house-sit listing right away.

Then, the host has the opportunity to look through all of the applications and decide who to follow up with before making a decision (usually after a video call with us) and confirming the house-sit.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by McLaughlin Family (@mclaughlinsmakingmemories)

Which Trusted Housesitters Membership Level should I choose?

Trusted Housesitters has multiple membership levels: Basic, Standard, and Premium. Each offers different benefits that might be beneficial for how often you travel and your travel style. Read our breakdown of the various Trusted Housesitters membership levels (and why we decided to upgrade to premium by our 3rd house sit)

Our Best Tips For Applying To Be A Pet Sitter with Trusted Housesitters:

When we had our first house-sit in England (just north of London), we knew what location we wanted to stay in and the dates we were available in order to find our next house sit.

We wanted to stay fairly close to the same area we were in and, if possible, find our next house-sit without any breaks in between where we would need to pay for a hotel. While we were already in England housesitting, we realized what our specific requirements and criteria were, and kept those in mind as we looked for our next housesit. Here’s how we got five housesits (nearly) back-to-back:

Offer to schedule a video call or phone call in the application

We tell the host a bit about us and (to be clear) that we’re traveling as a family of five with three boys. We would love to house-sit (pet’s name), and we’d be happy to find a time for a video call to meet before making a decision. We want to use the pet’s name so they know that pet care is our priority, not free accommodation.

A video call allows you to meet the homeowner and get to know them a little, and they get to feel more comfortable with you before making a decision. You’ll get a much more accurate first impression by video than by corresponding through the Trusted Housesitters app by text only.

Create a complete profile on TrustedHousesitters

Fill out every detail about yourself on the app. Homeowners want to learn as much about you as possible before deciding if they’ll leave their house and pet(s) with you while they go away. Filling out as much information as possible means they’ll have a complete picture of who you are and what they can expect from choosing you.

We’ve uploaded the maximum number of photos of us traveling as a family and our boys with animals – petting llamas at a farm, riding a horse, and cuddling with a dog – to our profile.

 

Apply to NEW (recent) house sitting listings first

In the app, you’ll see some listings marked as ‘new’. Start sorting through these and choose some to apply for. Check back often for more new listings. You’re more likely to be considered by the homeowner for their house-sit if you’re first in line than applicant number 4 or 5. Out of the five housesits that we completed in England, two of them were first-time listers. As first-timers, they didn’t know how many applications they might get, so they were eager to accept our application to confirm their vacation plans.
It’s fine to apply for listings that aren’t marked as new or listings that indicate that they have a few applicants already. However, our best (and quickest) success with getting approved has been when we’re close to first in line with our application on a recent listing.

Mention your flexibility when you message them on Trusted Housesitters

Some people would like you to visit their homes and pets before they leave for vacation to show you how to feed the pets or take you for a walk with their dog on their usual route. Sometimes it’s as easy as stopping by their house a night before, and many homeowners will offer to let you stay in their home the night before their trip if you’re going to be sleeping in their guest room.

For our first house sit, we said we’d be flying into London 3 nights before the house-sit was scheduled to begin. We stayed 2 nights in a hotel at the start of our trip. Then we arrived at our first house-sit the night before the homeowner left for their trip, and we stayed the night in their house (while the homeowners stayed at a friend’s house for the night). They stopped by to check in on us the next morning before they took the train to the airport.

For our next house-sit, we rented a car and stopped by that house a few days early to meet the pets. Then, we arrived at that to house-sit on the same day the homeowner was leaving for their trip because we were already comfortable with their pets and home.

Mention your flexibility in the application – say, “We’d be happy to come to your house a few days ahead of your trip to meet you and meet your pets,” or say, “We’re open to coming a day early to learn our way around,” which takes some concern off of the homeowner.

DON’T agree to the housesit in the video call

Ask all of your questions and end the video call with, “Let’s think about it overnight, and if you think that we will be a good fit for you, let’s confirm tomorrow.” You’re going to be excited with the possibility of the house-sit working out for you, but make sure that you have already taken time to learn about what’s in that local area, and consider your mode of transportation while you are there – if you’ll need to rent a car (and drive on the LEFT side of the road in the UK), because their location is out of town in the countryside.

Or consider if you’ll be able to sleep well in the city center with the house’s windows open in July because there is no air conditioning in their building, and there is lots of nighttime activity in the city.

Ask if their house is smoke-free

We would like to see this added to the listings on TrustedHousesitters.com, but if there’s no indication that the house is smoke-free in the description, we always ask. We’re sensitive to cigarette smoke, and I would hate to travel any distance with the plan to stay somewhere for a week and arrive to find out at the last moment that we’re unable to stay in their house because it’s been smoked in, and the homeowner is then stuck without someone to watch their pet. We always say, “We don’t smoke, and we’re sensitive to that, so we just want to check that your house is smoke-free.”

Start with a local stay to get petsitting reviews

Like most other services, you can see reviews from people who have stayed at the house you are considering housesitting at in the past (assuming you’re not their first housesitter), and they can see the reviews on your profile that other pet owners have left for you.

This can be a bit of a chicken-and-egg to get reviews your first time. If you choose to apply your first house-sit in your local area, you can offer to go visit the home and pet before confirming that you’ll do the sit, and many homeowners would love to meet you in person first in order to get a positive review.

Tips For Getting Great Trusted Housesitters Reviews:

We didn’t have any concerns with booking house-sits without having any reviews. Our first four houses were easily booked before we had completed our first house-sit, but that’s not to assume that reviews don’t hold any weight.

How To Get Great Housesitting Reviews (5/5 stars on all 25 reviews so far)

1. Stay in touch throughout the stay. We ask if someone was going away on a work trip or a vacation. If for vacation, we try not to interrupt, and for a work trip, we would try to send a message to the homeowner in the evenings instead of during the day. But a cute cat picture or a photo of their dog curled up on the couch with one of our boys every few days goes a long way to ease their mind about how their pet is being taken care of.
2. Communicate on the way to the housesit. Stay in touch through their vacation by sending a few messages, such as, “Our plane just landed, so we will see you in a few days,” or “Our boys are looking forward to meeting your pet in a couple of days.” This reassures the homeowner – they feel comfortable and know that you’re en route, and everything is still on track for the house-sit/pet-sit.
3. Check-in when the homeowner is on their way home. Check-in to see that flights are running on time and if there’s anything the homeowner would like you to pick up at the grocery store before they get home. Do something simple, yet thoughtful, to prepare for the homeowner’s return, such as making sure there is fresh bread on the counter for them and milk in the fridge. This could save them a trip to the store when they’re already tired from traveling.
4. Clean up before the homeowner gets back. Don’t wait until they arrive to pack your bags, tidy the bathroom, and pull your clothes out of the dryer. The homeowner is returning from being away and will be ready to have their house back, and will not want to wait for you to tidy up. We go the extra mile by putting the used bedding into the washing machine before we leave, so that the homeowner can put it to the dryer when they get home.
5. Have a light snack ready. Ask the homeowner if you can prepare a snack or a light meal for them in advance so that it’s ready when they return home. After traveling, they may want something to eat when they arrive home, and this is a good opportunity for you to chat with them about how your stay went. You can mention anything that may have come up (like how a window latch broke during our first house sit), and give the homeowners the opportunity to ask if everything went well with the pets.
6. Be aware that some homeowners may not want to socialize. They just got off a plane, took a train home, or have driven from relatives, and the homeowners are not interested in spending time with you. They’re not being rude, but they may be exhausted. Don’t plan to stay to visit for the afternoon together, and be ready to head out as soon as you feel like they’re ready to have their space to themselves. You don’t want to leave a poor impression because the homeowner’s final step is to leave you a review online.
7. Add the finishing touches. Find fresh flowers to replace the wilted ones, set out some fresh baking, or a small ‘thank you’ gift like a bottle of wine or a cheese basket. These are great ways to leave a lasting impression on the homeowners, especially if you leave their house before they’re back and your paths won’t cross with them again. This happened a few times at the end of our house-sits when the homeowner got delayed an hour or two, or we were heading out to catch a train an hour before they arrived back.

Our goal was always to make a good, lasting impression so that the homeowner would say, “We would love to have you guys come back sometime,” when they’d return (usually, one bite of Celine’s homemade cinnamon buns will do the trick).

25% off Trusted Housesitters Discount Code:

Trusted house sitters promo codes appear in the form of links rather than coupon codes that you put in at checkout. Click this link for 25% off your Trusted House Sitters membership (whether you’re a pet parent, homeowner, or looking to become a pet sitter – it’s the same link!)

Save 25% on Trusted Housesitters

Before you use your Trusted Housesitters Promo Codes:

Sure, but there must be other house sitting or petsitting platforms and apps out there! Yes, there are, but after multiple house sits as a family, we’ve settled on Trusted Housesitters. Here’s our full review of why we love trusted Housesitters (written after we completed 11 house sits in 6 months in Europe).