A woman from Brisbane, Australia has saved around $28,000 in travel expenses, by boarding with cats. In order to save on hotels, Madolline Gourley found a way to cheat the system. She worked by taking care of animals while she’s traveling.
“As a sitter, you house or pet sit for ‘free’ in exchange for accommodation,” she told Business Insider. Since 2017, Gourley has visited nearly 50 homes across the United States and Australia. Taking care of cats takes only about 30 mins a day. Duties usually include basic feeding, cleaning the box and maybe giving the cat a few pets.
The main sites that Gourley frequents are places like TrustedHousesitters, MindMyHouse, HouseCarers, Aussie House Sitters, House Sitters America and House Sitters Canada. She keeps record of all of her adventures on her blog, One Cat at a Time.
If you’re good with pets, this could be a great way to start traveling. Of course you will want to get references before you do. This is highly dependent on the ability to care for animals and you’ll need to be seen as dependable to get the gigs.
