There are certain items that you can just borrow. One we borrow is car seat travel bags. Our neighborhood passes them neighbor to neighbor depending on who is flying. Don't be afraid to reach out on a neighborhood site to ask!

Or consider borrowing items at your destination. This is a huge benefit of house sitting. Often, the family is in the same stage of life and has needed items like a pack n play, sheets, crib, monitor, bathtub, cups/plates. If you are traveling to friends or family, ask them to borrow these items.

Did you know you can rent car seats? Especially if you are going to get a rental car, they can often assist you in renting a car seat. Also there are tons of companies specific to the area you are traveling to that rent out EVERYTHING! BabyQuip is the first one on my google search. It is local to Tacoma, WA (likely because I'm writing this from Auburn, WA).

This is not shockingly one of my (Kat's) favorites. We have found that is is waaayyyy cheaper and less frustration to just do a quick garage sale or thrift store stop when we arrive and grab any plates, baby cups, toys and books for that trip. On our first stateside House Sit, we just had our first son at that point. We chose to just go without a stroller and get one there. And there it was, a red jeep stroller down the street from our house at a garage sale. Complete with steering wheel for our son and jogging tires.

So whether is a garage sale, thrift store, craigslist, facebook marketplace or even shipping it to your location ahead of time using a secondhand site like Mercari, utilize the massive amount of baby and child stuff that's waiting for you in secondhand places!

I know it feels like more things will make everything better, but just don't. Leave stuff at home. With the availability of thrift stores, you can easily get anything you feel you need. I always picture myself lugging whatever I pack through the airport or to the car and into our next stay. I want as much as possible for us to travel light. I want to be frugal in what I bring so that I can be free to enjoy!

With kids, one thing I say no to is toys/books. On our trip to Washington for a month, I packed each boy a camelbak with a slim notepad, 1 colored pencil, a fidget toy, and one hotwheel. And the 1yo got nothing. He is more that happy climbing on everything and tossing Tupperware around! We found books and toys everywhere we have gone and it's more fun this way anyway!

Pictured is a double stroller we picked up for $30 off facebook marketplace located 5 miles from where we were staying in Washington State! It greatly increased the distance we could travel on a hike since all the littles could ride if they needed.