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Guest Post on Global Housesitter X2 – Housesitting in America

Thank you to Suzanne, who interviewed me about house and pet sitting on her informative and entertaining blog, which has now been closed down.

Housesitting in America – Liesbet & Mark

In my series “Interviews with Housesitters”, I will be introducing you to various people who live life differently via slow travel and housesitting.

Liesbet and I have been following each other for a while now, well, since I started getting involved with the Blogging Community. I have thoroughly enjoyed our interactions and have found Liesbet very informative, fun and a straight talker, a personality trait I find a breath of fresh air. Then if you are like me you start reading more about her travelling life you too will be inspired at what these two have achieved and enjoyed as a team.

Meet Liesbet and Mark

Mark and Liesbet in Tahiti

Liesbet was born and raised in Belgium but calls herself a world citizen.

Since being a teenager, her two passions have been travel and writing. That’s mainly what she has been doing since her graduation as a teacher, many years ago. Her explorations backpacking and camping led her to many parts of the world and into the arms of her American husband Mark.

With him, she continued her adventures by truck camper, sailboat, and camper van. The closest they’ve ever come to settling down is choosing a lifestyle of house and pet sitting in North America. She is in the process of writing a memoir about the last decade of her unconventional life. Her blog Roaming About – A Life Less Ordinary reports on her writing journey, travels, housesits and expense reports.

What made you choose housesitting as a way of life?

After my husband, Mark, and I sailed full-time on our 35ft catamaran for eight years, while maintaining an income, we were pretty exhausted. We decided to sell the boat in Tahiti and return to the United States, we but didn’t want to settle. A friend had told us about house and pet sitting when we visited him in New Zealand six months earlier, so we decided to give that a try in the US. It turned out to be the perfect lifestyle for us. We enjoy and appreciate living all over the country, rent-free, while taking care of dogs, sightseeing during the weekends, and being able to do our work in comfort.

Abacos, Bahamas with our dogs Kali and Darwin

What was the process you went through to become a housesitter?

I signed up for three house sitting sites, created an attractive profile with dog-loving photos, collected a few “character references” from friends and family, started the first sit close by to gain experience, a 5-star review and a “real” reference, and launched into full-time house and pet sitting, first in New England, then out west.

With Herk at Lake Tahoe

How long have you been housesitting?

Almost three years.

For yourself, what are the positives and negatives to housesitting?

Positives: being able to love, cuddle, walk, and spoil dogs without owning one, work and live in a comfortable and convenient environment, not spending money on accommodation, meeting interesting people, exploring new areas every time we move, having the ability to get to know places in-depth.

Negatives: for us, there is only one negative: we don’t have a social life. While living and traveling by sailboat and camper creates like-minded communities to be a part of, our current social life happens mostly online. Unless one of our friends travels through the area where we have a sit, which has happened on a few occasions. We would like to house sit internationally one day, but the big negative then will be the high cost for plane tickets and possibly car rentals.

With Tui on Cape Cod, MA

What do you look for when choosing your next housesit?

Since we both work from home, decent and reliable internet is our main requirement. The area has to be somewhat attractive, and we avoid “Trump territory”. We also ignore listings that require a lot of extra work (more than the usual pet care, cleanup, watering of the plants and normal yard work), because we are busy enough with our own jobs. Since my husband is allergic to cats, we don’t apply to sits with indoor cats. We try to get to know the home owners a bit via email and a video Skype call before we commit, to make sure there are no red flags.

Do you prefer long term or short term sits? The pros and cons are?

Long-term sits. After a decade+ of traveling, we were pretty burnt out when it came to moving frequently. Once settled in a place, we like to be able to enjoy the area, the dogs, and the home for a while. Plus, once our electronics are installed, and we know the lay of the land, it’s comfortable and enjoyable to just be in the same place for a while. I don’t see any cons about long-term sitting, unless you pick this lifestyle to travel a lot and desire to see many places in a short amount of time.

In the past, when we still had our Toyota Prius, we sometimes took short-term sits to fill gaps between house sits. We never stayed in a hotel or paid for accommodation those first eighteen months.

What website do you use? Or have you developed your own?

I have a “sitting” section on my blog that showcases our profile, reviews, and posts about our house-sitting experiences. The same profile and photos are listed on a few websites as well. We started with House Sitters America, Mind My House and Trusted House Sitters. Then, when seeing an attractive sit on House Carers, we signed up for that service as well. Last year, we canceled our membership with THS and more recently with House Carers. As we plan to combine travel and house sitting in the near future, the two remaining sites we belong to offer enough choice.

When not housesitting, what sort of accommodation do you mainly use? Or do you have your own home or motorhome to go back to, in between housesits?

When we started our house and pet sitting lifestyle in 2015, all our belongings fit in the back of our car. We managed to string house sits together, with only a few small gaps. Those days, we either prolonged the last house sit a bit, stayed with family on the East Coast, or crashed with friends.

One year ago, Mark and I bought a camper van, which gives us security in between house sits and a permanent roof above our heads. During the weekends, we have taken it camping in the areas of our sits, and soon it will be our “official” home on wheels.

Free camping in the Sonoran Desert, AZ

What’s one piece of advice you would share with someone who was contemplating their first housesit?

House and pet sitting is based on trust, respect and common sense. If you are a responsible, caring, and attentive person interested in this exchange, you can do it. Communication skills, honesty, and a love for animals are a must as well. Once you create an attractive profile and gather some experience (represented in positive reviews), you’re off to a good start. Before you commit to any sits, I highly recommend you have a video Skype call (or at least a phone call) in addition to email exchanges, to make sure you’re on the right page with the home owners. Have fun!

With Lola along the CA coast

Our summer update:

Mark and I are currently wrapping up our last week of being with family in Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA. On Monday, we go on a three day/two night Amtrak train ride back to Zesty in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Once there, after a deserving shower and a good night sleep, we will be ready for new adventures!

Monthly Expenses – June 2018

July 12, 2018 / Liesbet / 38 Comments

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting and relatively adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂 That being said, Mark and I seem to manage one big expense a month for some reason, whether it is camper, plane, travel or computer-related. Luckily, we live totally rent-free, wherever we end up.

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. Under groceries we incorporate all the food, produce and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and Mark's vitamins and supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor's visits. Health insurance and costs are related to my health care as a permanent resident in the US. Mark is still eligible for free health care in the state of Massachusetts as of today. If a non-emergency were to happen outside of that state, it will be expensive! For check-ups, we both return to the East Coast. I still pay a small quarterly fee in Belgium for health care (required to retain citizenship), which I mention in my year report.

On the Amtrak train from Santa Fe, NM to Boston, MA

June was a bit of a different month, compared to others.

Guest Post on Retirementally Challenged – Grateful… for Others, and Ourselves

July 5, 2018 / Liesbet / 8 Comments

When Janis at Retirementally Challenged (don’t you love the name of her blog?) asked her most loyal readers to participate in her GratiTuesday series, I initially was going to decline. But, when I gave the idea a bit more thought, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to reflect on the things in life I am grateful for. If you’re curious what they are, check out my guest post on her site, and feel free to leave a comment there. The main photo is quite popular. 🙂

Thank you for hosting me, Janis, and have a wonderful summer everyone!

Read the full post here.

IWSG Writing Update July 2018 – In the Hands of Beta Readers

July 3, 2018 / Liesbet / 51 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, except this month due to tomorrow being July 4th – Independence Day in the US, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement, or anything really, about their writing. A different question is posed each month, as a writing prompt. Answering it is optional. For July, the question is: “What are your ultimate writing goals, and how have they changed over time (if at all)?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the co-hosts are Nicki Elson,Juneta Key, Tamara Narayan, and Patricia Lynne. Feel free to swing by their sites and see what they’re up to.

My answer to the question (“What are your ultimate writing goals, and how have they changed over time (if at all)?”)

When I was younger, I wrote for pleasure. It was an urge, it was natural, a part of my every day – document my experiences in diaries, letters to family, and later email reports in Dutch and English for whoever was interested. Giant parts of my life consisted of travel. My first blog, It’s Irie, replaced these reports. Writing was about informing others how things were going, wherever I was, and what the world looked like. Another goal was to have my writing in one place for the future. Whenever I’d retire, I’d be bored and happily reread all these stories, I thought.

My childhood desk in Belgium is not getting much use during this visit.

Two-week RV Trip, Part 3 – Boondocking/Free Camping

June 28, 2018 / Liesbet / 45 Comments

To most of you, it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that Mark and I are frugal people. It’s not that we don’t have any money, or that we don’t make any money; we choose to only spend what is needed to live comfortably and eat healthy. This allows us to work jobs we enjoy (generally speaking), where the wages are inferior to our flexibility and satisfaction. The less money you spend, the less you have to make, and therefore work. ????

Our past house-sitting lifestyle guaranteed we never paid for rent or utilities. Our biggest expenses this year involved our camper van Zesty. Setting him up to live off the grid (we still have to work more towards that) and travel full-time will provide savings in the future. We prefer boondocking (“dry” camping for free, usually without facilities and preferably in nature) to RV parks and official campgrounds. I compare it to anchoring on our sailboat, as opposed to staying in marinas, which we rarely did, for similar reasons. We prefer privacy, natural surroundings, and spending no money on camping (or mooring). In the year we have owned Zesty, we have paid twice for a “bare bones” campground without hook-ups, but with toilets, trash receptacles and a dump station. Once in Zion National Park last October, and once on this two-week RV trip.

Two-week RV Trip, Part 2 – Indian Pueblos and Culture

June 21, 2018 / Liesbet / 57 Comments

After less than one week on the road in Zesty, Mark and I returned to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in case an urgent health matter had us drive back to the East Coast in our van. Juan, the “window guy” at Extreme Twist, added an extra layer of silicone to the inside of our windshield, in the hopes it would finally be fixed. We couldn’t water test it until later. Mark’s health scare proved less urgent than we thought, but it kept weighing on us the rest of our time in the van. Today, I’m happy to report that it was false alarm.

Instead of retracing our steps yet again, back to Arizona, Zesty took us north, to Chaco Canyon. The idea was to spend the afternoon in Chaco Culture National Historical Park and see some of the most spectacular ruins of the Chaco Indians. But, by the time we reached the area after a 4-hour drive, and conquered the 14-mile long washboard gravel road to get to the park (which took another 2 hours instead of ½ hour because we are heavy and extremely careful), it was too late and hot in the day to stick to plan. We decided to camp for the night at the only (pay) campground in the park and split the excursion over two days.

Bonito Pueblo

Two-week RV Trip, Part 1 – Rocks and Petrified Wood

June 13, 2018 / Liesbet / 69 Comments

After Mark and I finished our two-month house sit in Santa Fe, the end of May, we had no other assignments lined up. Partly because the 2.5-week gap before our train journey east was tight to find a “perfect” house sit; partly because we wanted to give full-time RV living a chance. We planned to make a loop from Santa Fe west into Arizona, north to the Four Corners region, east through Southern Colorado, and then back south into New Mexico. Memorial Day weekend would offer us a little break away from the computer, and since our business partner was on holiday for ten days early June, Mark’s job would be more relaxed then as well. During those once-a-year periods, he only deals with customers over email, and postpones phone calls until “vacation time” is over.

The southern part of Petrified Forest National Park

Our trip was off to a rocky start, since our windshield was still leaking. We’d come back earlier, after two weeks, and deal with it then. First stop: El Malpais National Monument, where we’d briefly stopped for a free night of camping after picking Zesty up in Arkansas, almost a year ago.

El Malpais National Monument

Already on day one, our bikes came in handy. We explored the eastern part of the park at our own pace, and photographed rocky outcrops, peddled through Indian Reservations, and discovered a natural arch.

Zesty and the bikes in the Joe Skeen campground of El Malpais

The black patches are lava rock

Sandstone Bluffs

La Ventana natural arch

IWSG Writing Update June 2018 – Finished Draft Three

June 6, 2018 / Liesbet / 63 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement, or anything really, about their writing. A different question is posed each month, as a writing prompt for IWSG members. Answering it is optional. For June, the question is: “What’s harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the co-hosts are Beverly Stowe McClure,Tyrean Martinson,Tonja Drecker, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor. Feel free to swing by their sites and see what they’re up to.

My answer to the question (“What’s harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?”)

This month’s question is easy to answer. Since I’ve only written non-fiction stories and I’m working on my first memoir, the names of my characters are their real-life names. I do plan to contact these people, and if they want pseudonyms, they can send me suggestions as replacements. So, book titles are the hardest thing to come up with for me. And, to be honest, after years of working on my memoir, I still haven’t decided on its title. So many possibilities…

My book progress

Monthly Expenses – May 2018

June 5, 2018 / Liesbet / 38 Comments

May was an extremely expensive month for Mark and I. We expected the big, annual camper insurance bill of almost $1000, and attempted to keep other expenses low by doing what we always do: keep eating out and drinking out to a minimum, and only buy the things needed to eat healthy and get our camper ready for the road.

We bought bikes, then, we needed to get a rack, and a swing out hitch. Next, a bag for protection. With this contraption, our lights and license plate weren't visible anymore for traffic behind us, so Mark fabricated an extension, we moved the license plate (still waiting on an extra one), and purchased extra lights.

Completed House Sits – Santa Fe, New Mexico (March 28th to May 26th, 2018)

May 30, 2018 / Liesbet / 43 Comments

This is the second time that Mark and I did a “repeat sit”, the only other time being in Sebastopol, CA with one of our favorite dogs, Lola. We are often asked back by owners to take care of their homes and pets again, but it rarely fits in our plans or weather tolerance, or we’d rather explore new areas of the country.