The best practice experience of home cleaning and maintenance from the perspective of a housesitter is worth noting. Housesitters and petsitters have a vast amount of experience in home care. Here are some top tips you should know if you are considering being either a professional or an amateur housesitter through a platform like Housesitmatch.com.

Home cleaning and maintenance best practice for housesitters

When it comes to travelling, accommodations undoubtedly take up a huge chunk of your budget. However, with housesitting, you not only save on the cost of accommodation, but you can even earn money in exchange for staying in and looking after someone’s house.

If you’re a pet lover, you’re in luck as you may also be asked to watch over the homeowner’s pets while they are away.

As a professional sitter this can be a lucrative endeavour. Some housesitters earned more than £200 a day in some neighbourhoods before the pandemic. While the industry did take a hit during lockdowns, the industry is seeing an optimistic trend moving forward.

Why free housesitting?

At Housesitmatch we promote unpaid housesitting and petsitting. We promote an exchange of services between the housesitter and the homeowner. We believe this is a pure arrangement and offers these benefits –

1. Housesitting saves both parties money
2. The arrangement helps both people and pets in the equation
3. This way of travel leaves a lighter footprint on the planet
4. Housesitting as an exchange makes travel affordable for all
5. Most of all you meet like-minded people and build strong trust relationships.

Core to housesitting is home cleaning and maintenance routine

If you’re ever lucky enough to try housesitting as an exchange, you should consider the best way to please the other party. Homeowners can prepare the home and pets for the sitter, so that the housesit and petsit is a pleasurable experience. This include preparing a clean home and living space for the housesitter to step into.

Also if you are a housesitter and petsitter remember the importance of home cleaning and maintenance routine to prepare the home for the homeowner’s return.

Here are some tips you can use to keep the place you’re housesitting in order.

Clean as you go

One easy way to keep the owner’s house in order is to clean as you go. Cleaning as you go simply means that you are treating the house as your own. This means picking up after yourself and never letting any kind of mess pile up.

Not only will all the home cleaning and maintenance routines help you keep the house in order, but it also minimises the need for a deep clean before you leave. Another way to clean as you go is to make sure that you put everything in its place.

Homeowners typically will not mind it if their things are moved around a bit, but letting them come home to a place that’s organised to their liking is sure to boost your as a housesitter.

Ensure you clean after the pets too

If the home is also a home for pets, then be sure to clean after them too. Pets can make a mess especially in poor or wet weather. Make a point to keep the area where they eat and drink, and also where they sleep clean and tidy. It can make a big difference to the presentation and organisation of the home.

The best welcome home gift is a clean home and welcome by healthy pets

If there’s one thing that you can do to thank the homeowners for letting you stay in their place, it’s to leave their place cleaner than when they left it. It’s a fact that cleaning is something that not every housesitter bothers with. However, it does make a positive impression on homeowners. As such, before leaving a house, spend at least two hours doing a deep clean.

The home cleaning and maintenance routines entails vacuuming the floor, cleaning all surfaces, and taking out the trash, among other things. If doing all these things daily weekly monthly is too much for you, or if you are pressed for time, you could do a little at a time or even hire professional cleaners instead.

Professional cleaners will use effective techniques for maintenance and cleaning services to make sure that the house is clean and properly disinfected. Just make sure to ask to ask the owners if it’s alright with them before you do so.

This way, you can still go about fulfilling your own travel goals while making sure that the house that you stayed in is in tip-top shape before you leave it.

Preparedness is key

While housesitting sounds like a dream, it does entail major responsibilities, and it would do you well to know what you signed up for. One key to successfully housesit is to really make sure that you are not only aware of the responsibilities that the homeowner asks from you, but that you can do it all.

For example, while some homeowners might simply ask you to do some basic maintenance tasks, others might ask you to do more thorough cleaning. To make sure that you and the homeowners are on the same page about what you should do while housesitting, arrive a few hours before the owners leave.

This way, you can talk to them face to face and openly discuss any concern you both may have.

Home cleaning and maintenance best practice in summary

Housesitting is an ideal way to travel while also saving money on accommodations. However, you do need to make a name for yourself to make sure that homeowners open their doors for you.

With these simple home cleaning and maintenance tips, you can quickly gain those stellar housesitting reviews and never have to worry about where to stay on your next trip again.

Remember your house cleaning checklists when you go housesitting and practice your home cleaning and maintenance routines, especially to prepare the home for the owners return.

Further reading about housesitting and housesitters

At Housesitmatch.com we like to share useful blogs and practical advice about housesitters, housesitting and pet sitting. We hope you find this small selection of our blogs on house sitters useful.

Housesitters keep pets safe at home and save money

What a housesitter does – Top 10 responsibilities

Top 10 tips for catsitting

Top dogsitting tips for beginners

The Affordable Alternative to Dog Kennels

What is House Sitting?