{"id":47780,"date":"2025-09-06T18:55:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T18:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/47780\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T18:55:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T18:55:08","slug":"i-started-housesitting-in-ireland-and-abroad-to-avoid-paying-rent-this-is-my-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/47780\/","title":{"rendered":"I started housesitting in Ireland and abroad to avoid paying rent \u2013 this is my experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve seen the headlines, you know the story: the housing crisis in Ireland is out of control. When my partner Luke and I started planning on coming home to Dublin after a few months\u2019 travel, it only took a cursory glance at daft.ie to know our prospects were bleak.<\/p>\n

Our funds were low \u2014 we had saved up for a year to go backpacking, and our pockets were well and truly emptied. Hoping to avoid less-than-desirable house shares or moving back in with parents, we had to get creative. That\u2019s when a suggestion made by my auntie Anne resulted in a lightbulb moment; why not try housesitting?<\/p>\n

So began our adventures through the website trustedhousesitters.com<\/a> (which should really be called trustedpetsitters, since we\u2019re yet to find one house that doesn\u2019t come with beloved \u2018furbabies\u2019 as part of the deal). From four colourful cats in Kuala Lumpur, to a ginormous rescue mix in Glasgow, we found ourselves in a variety of locations over a few months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something incredibly immersive about experiencing a new place while assuming the roles of the people who live there \u2014 you really feel more local than tourist. Of course, we\u2019re dog and cat people, which is kind of a non-negotiable if you want to do this sort of thing. After five weeks with a dog called Tappo just outside Milan, I cried my eyes out, not wanting to leave.<\/p>\n

\" Aoife CodyKane. Picture: Moya Nolan<\/p>\n

Of course, housesitting is not without its challenges: most of them medium-sized and covered in fur. There was the time last month when I mistakenly wore Birkenstocks to walk a German Shepherd, using a waist lead. One sniff of a squirrel and I was promptly yanked halfway across the park, whole body bent backwards and parallel to the ground, feet sliding along like some kind of amateur skier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There was the cat that would only drink from the tap, turning it on at 4am and very nearly flooding the kitchen. The 10-year-old rescue who woke every night to howl until one of us reluctantly joined him on the couch. Before long, we were jokingly referring to the experience as a pet-contraceptive.<\/p>\n

Families are different everywhere too, with unique expectations. Some are happy for you to find your own groove, while others want you to do exactly as they do. On our first night in a new house we received a message informing us of the sleeping arrangements: cat, human, cat, human, 70kg alsatian. Sure enough, we obliged, tucking ourselves into an average-sized bed like a pack of sardines for the sake of the pet\u2019s routine!<\/p>\n

After a few foreign adventures, we set our sights on the homeland. We secured two weeks in a beautiful house in Kinsale with two gorgeous doggy brothers, Duke and Earl. Upon seeing how many Irish house owners were active on the site, the penny dropped for me that, hypothetically, we could live in Ireland without paying a cent in rent. And it turns out, I\u2019m not the only one. Between both sitters and houseowners, there are currently 3,000 Irish people signed up to TrustedHousesitters.<\/p>\n

Stef Stewart, a 25-year-old from Swords, is one of them. She\u2019s been housesitting for two reasons \u2014 to avoid Dublin rent (hear, hear) and to explore Cork City as somewhere she might move to in the future.<\/p>\n

\"StefStef with a pet<\/p>\n

\u201cI was living with my partner [in Dublin] and the rent just got a bit much for us,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe were stuck in a two-bed with another couple \u2014 it was tiny. It was just kind of hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Stef and her partner split, she felt \u201cpriced out of Dublin\u201d, moving back home with her parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I could get a house, but I\u2019d be paying a ton of rent in a house share… I was making a pretty good salary in my last job, but I still was like: \u2018Why don\u2019t I have any money?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

So Stef signed up for Trusted Housesitters. Initially, she admits she baulked slightly at the \u201csteep\u201d sign-up fee (\u20ac150 for the year).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the first [two-week housesit] I did, you\u2019d literally pay that for one night in Cork! I have thought about finding some sits in Dublin, just to get out of my parents\u2019 for a few days. It\u2019d be nice to be back in the place where you\u2019ve made a community, where you have your favourite cafes and walks.\u201d<\/p>\n

After three housesits in Cork, Stef sees it as a great option for people in similar positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really nice to see different communities, meet new people. You kind of take on someone\u2019s life; you\u2019re drinking their coffee, sitting in their chair, going to their local shop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Stef says she might try to take it a little further, just like we did.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy original plan was to get a job and an apartment\u2026 but the more I think about it now, I think I\u2019m going to keep doing housesits and go abroad for a few months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AleksandraAleksandra and Frida<\/p>\n

Aleksandra Schmidt, a creative director and photographer based in Dublin, also found herself at a loss with rent prices following a break-up. She was struggling to find somewhere affordable to live, especially considering she had a daschund puppy at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was almost impossible. Unless you\u2019re in a long-term lease, the landlord knows you, or you\u2019ve got the kind of family connections that make phonecalls for you. I had none of those.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was left with the \u20ac1,600 apartment we had shared, \u20ac230 in bills, and a puppy I couldn\u2019t bear to part with. I worked a minimum-wage job and did freelance photography on the side, somehow making ends meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aleksandra saw an Instagram story from a mutual friend who needed someone to pet-sit for an entire summer. She jumped at the opportunity to look after a 12-year-old labrador called Sandy, bringing her own pup Frida with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked the dogs, watered tomato plants that weren\u2019t mine. I had a home \u2014 for three full summer months. With a garden, not far from the city centre, and two dogs I loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aleksandra adds that it wasn\u2019t just an economic choice, needing space post-breakup, but that \u201cit helped massively in building up a deposit for a new place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IsIs housesitting a viable option for people who don\u2019t want to pay an extortionate amount of rent in Dublin? Picture: Moya Nolan<\/p>\n

You might be noticing a pattern here \u2014 housesitting doesn\u2019t quite work if you have a 9 to 5, in-house job. There\u2019s a definite privilege that comes with being able to house-sit, namely having flexible or freelance work, and having a place to anchor yourself in between sits. (Luke and I are very lucky to have the option to stay with his parents.) This is something Trusted Housesitters stressed when I reached out to ask about their stance on chronic rent avoiders.<\/p>\n

Angela Laws, head of community, says: \u201cTrusted Housesitters isn\u2019t an alternative or solution to full-time accommodation. We\u2019d always suggest that sitters enjoy the service, but have alternative accommodation available, should they require it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have they noticed more sign-ups in the last few years, as rent prices skyrocket all across the globe? Absolutely.<\/p>\n

Emma Lumley, the site\u2019s PR and campaigns manager, shares that they\u2019ve seen a steady increase since 2022, though she puts it down to a typical \u201cpost-covid travel boom.\u201d She also tells me that so far in 2025, more than 7,000 sits globally have been for longer than 29 days.<\/p>\n

So, is it a viable option for people who don\u2019t want to pay an extortionate amount of rent in Dublin? Temporarily, absolutely. But, long-term? Probably not.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019ve loved our time housesitting, the energy it requires is taxing, from tailoring your applications to houseowners, to moving your whole life into a new space every few weeks.<\/p>\n

As we officially move home with the savings we\u2019ve made, we\u2019ll keep our membership for occasional breaks and adventures. And who knows \u2014 maybe in a year or two, if the housing bubble hasn\u2019t popped, we\u2019ll jet off for a global adventure again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You\u2019ve seen the headlines, you know the story: the housing crisis in Ireland is out of control. When…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,2902,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-47780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-insight","12":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}