It is such a unique opportunity to step into someone else's life. Literally you sleep in their bed (or a guest bedroom), use their kitchen and meet their neighbors. It never fails to shift my perspective in some way.

In 2022 we jumped into our first house sit as a family of five! It was interesting because when we arrived we learned that the family had just overhauled their home to be an Airbnb residence so they could travel the states in their RV for a year. So instead of a home filled with personal items, photos, decor and just stuff, this house was stripped down to a zen colored, minimalist vacation spot. It had everything we needed. Fully stocked kitchen, a few great books, a few toys for our kids...but at first it felt stark.

Then as we were there longer, I began realizing that I have a very visible home. Shelves loaded with books, walls crowded with photos, mirrors and art, rugs galore and floral curtains in every room. My kitchen counters are covered with appliances and produce. I started to appreciate the visual space around me in this home and the mental space it afforded. Will I ever be a minimalist? No. I love decor to much. But I do plan to go home and pair down every room. Re-organize things so that I don't see things every day that I don't use. Create a little more space in my home and mind.

If you are wanting to explore the topic of clutter, I highly recommend , "Clutter Connection" by Cassandra Aarssen. It examines and explains the correlation between brain types and how they directly relate to organization and clutter.

House sitting is very different than a typical vacation. The pace is different. Typically there are responsibilities in the morning and evening caring for the pets. And living in a home and neighborhood is different than a hotel. It just changes the tone. It becomes adventuring in a new city versus a two or three day blow out vacation, where every meal is at some zagat rated place and every hour is packed with the next thing.

A house sit is allows you to explore at a slower pace, with rest built in and normal activities like cooking, washing clothes, taking out the trash... That may sound like the glamour of a vacation is gone when you start talking about dishes and laundry, but we find there is a health in the normal activities of life. I think we long to put things backtogether or retore things. And having a down day where we stay at 'home' wash and fold our clothes, prep food, and clean house brings a sort of peace to my soul. As an introvert I can't indefinitely run at high speed a whole week or more. I need some unplanned hours of quiet work and rest. Then, the next day (or ever the next) you get back out there and see something else wonderful and new.

Never have I ever..... well, now I can't say that I haven't cared for two large pigs who slept in their own room in the house! This was our first house sit in the states and our first house sit with a child. Wesley greatly enjoyed feeding the pigs compost scraps.