How much to pay house sitter?

[Luv'sTink]

How much do you pay your house sitter...If you have one. We will be gone for 9 days, I need the house sitter to feed dog 2Xday, feed fish 2xday, stay at house. They can eat anything they want in the house (except alcohol).

No plants to water, no lawn to mow or water, no cleaning up after dog, no walking the dog, no walking the fish! I do expect them to clean up after themselves, the house will be clean when we leave.

We actually live closerto her college than she does so it wouldn't be a big inconvenience for her that way. She (19) lives with her parents and doesn't work at a job. My parents live across the street, my sister next door and her Aunt next door to my parents so hopefully that means NO parties!

We will probably bring her back something from also. I know what I have in mind but I want to see what others say. TIA

 

[belle&beast]

We had a recent college grad house sit for us for 7 days/nights in January. She is living at home with her parents for now, so she was happy to get out of the house! I made sure to stock the fridge and left her $50 for groceries that she might need. (She didn't even spend the money!) We paid her $100 when we returned. Our rationale was with 2 large dogs to board for a week, it saved us money and she took good care of our home and pets! I don't know if this is a "going rate" but she seemed happy with it and she does house/pet sit quite often.

 

[LynnTH]

My nephew comes and housesits for us. He is a college student and very trustworthy. That alone is huge. The last two times he housesat (and dogsat) for us we paid him $200 for the week. He was very appreciative and didn't think we should pay him because he was eating all of our food all week - I told him he was suppose to.

 

[Merriwind]

We have always had housesitters for our cat. She needed company and to be at her house. We've always used girls--recent college grads, here in FL, I've only found a student--who live at home with their folks in our neighborhood. They stay at the house, feed and love the kitty, eat what they want, no parties, etc. I usually pay $200 per week. The peace of mind alone is worth it for me. We usually bring back a small souvenir too.

 

[aristocat]

I think $250 plus a small souvenir for 9 days would be fair.

 

[lorrainesy]

I pay $200 per week to pet sit and house sit.

 

[5fordisney]

Hi. $30 a night is the going rate in my area. I opt to hire a highschooler instead, to come to the house 3 times a day to feed and let the dogs out, get mail, water garden, and feed bird. We pay about $20 per day plus sounvenir. To board my 2 dogs at a kennel would cost me $25 a night minimum. Win-win for everyone!

 

[shaylahc1]

Our teenage neighbor boy comes twice a day to feed the dog and let him out. He also collects the mail, and puts out the trash as needed. We pay him $10 per visit, or $20 a day.

 

[hollyb]

We are going to ask our neighbor teenager to take care of our pets in August. 2 cats, 2 guinea pigs and 2 birds. We will ask him to come twice a day to check on them. We will be gone 7 days and are planning on paying him $100. We really appriciate someone trust worthy to take care of our pets. They mean the world to the kids. (us too)

 

[mmaddog56]

Wow....$250 a week? I don't want to sound cheap but that seems a little much.

We have always been lucky...every place we have lived I have always found a very trustworthy college student who goes to our church more than willing to either be out of the dorm or away from Mom and Dad's house. And we have never had to pay more than $100 for the week, plus stock the fridge with their favorite foods.

I have satellite dish, a very private porch for sun bathing in the summer, a computer hook-up that I allow them to use for surfing and any other Internet-based necessity (and it has never been abused), peace and quiet that most can't get in a dorm. (Last time, I had 3 college kids wanting this assignment)

In return, all they had to do was feed and walk the dog, feed and pamper the cat, and feed the fish. I have a neighborhood boy to mow the yard and water the flowers, and all my mail is stopped until I get back.

Oh....and we always bring back something nice from WDW for them. We even usually ask if there is something that they would like, and in most cases have been able to find it somewhere in WDW.

I guess I appear cheap...

mmaddog56
*********