My small cottage kitchen.
It was May 2012 when my husband and I needed a new place to live. We’d been living in a studio apartment owned by his sister, and she and her family were due back in town. We needed to vacate the premises, but to where, we weren’t quite sure.
Living in a small town means that rental opportunities are few and far between. Fortunately, my husband’s step father happened to have a small house just down the road. He wasn’t going to be living in it for a few years and offered it to us to house sit. If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that we jumped on the opportunity and moved ourselves in.
The house is a small one bedroom, about 400 square feet in size. It came with basic furniture, which is good because we sold most of ours when we moved away from the city. We were able to move all of our stuff in about a day, and we’ve been here ever since. Has it been worth it?
Benefits of House Sitting
Cost Reduction
Quite possibly the biggest benefit of our house sitting arrangement has been the reduction in rent. We pay for our own utilities, plus $100 per month to cover the wear and tear that we inflict on the house. This is a huge cost savings for us, especially considering we used to pay around $1,000 a month in rent for our old apartment in the city. We also still get to have the benefits of having a land lord: we aren’t responsible for fixing things when they break, and we don’t have to pay for home insurance or property taxes.
This cost cutting measure has been so freaking important to our financial situation. My husband runs his own business, and it’s not very old so his income is still sporadic. Having low monthly rental commitments is great for it. For me, it’s been amazing. I’ve been able to pay off so much more debt because of our lower living expenses.
Pets Allowed
The other huge benefit to living here has been that we were allowed to get a dog. I’ve wanted a dog pretty much since I moved away from home at age 17. We adopted Molly three weeks after moving into this place, and I don’t regret it for one second.
Drawbacks of House Sitting
It’s Furnished
This was a huge benefit when we first moved in, but now it’s a bit of a draw back. I’m always paranoid that I’m going to wreck the furniture that was in the house when we moved in. It’s also been a bit of a forced savings program, since we can’t upgrade the furniture because it’s not ours. As much as I initially loved having a house full of furniture that I didn’t want to spend money on, now I’d like to upgrade some things, and I can’t.
It’s Small
400 square feet isn’t a lot of space. When we first moved in, I looked on the bright side of the small space and considered it a minimalist challenge. Now, I really miss a normal sized kitchen, and an extra bedroom to use as my office (now that I’m working from home) would be lovely.
Was House Sitting Worth It?
Absolutely. I’ve come across many people in the past sixteen months who comment that they could “never” live where I live. It’s too small, it’s too remote, it’s too rustic. Usually, those people are living in a much nicer, much larger house or apartment than I am. But usually, they also have debt. Debt they could probably get rid of if they were willing to take advantage of a creative living situation as I have.
Of course, getting out of debt is not a priority for everyone. It IS a priority for me though. It is a huge priority, my number one priority. I wanted to be out of debt, and fast. So, when the chance came up to lower my living expenses by taking advantage of this untraditional living situation, I took it, and I don’t regret it.
I’m still not sure what the future will bring, but I am 100% sure that living here for the last 16 months has been the right decision.
Have you ever had creative living arrangements in the name of saving money? I want to know!