The Benefits of House Sitting in the Shire of Mundaring
I type while a small bird in a cage at the other end of the table entertains me as I try to whistle in duet. At my feet is a lovely old dog. Rimsky-Korsakov is on the radio (yeah, I should probably stop writing and listen carefully).
I’ve finished the morning feeding & watering. Cows, goats, chooks, pasture for feed, some veggies, hanging plants and seedlings. Now the day is mine until the afternoon routine, which is less. With some other house sits there is almost nothing to do.
It’s almost idyllic. I get all the enjoyment of living with all sorts of critters and often in very nice homes and on fabulous properties, surrounded by forest, with almost no responsibility except to tend to them and keep an eye on how they are faring. No big vet bills, fencing repair costs or council rates for me! No complex decisions. Sometimes there’s a bit of troubleshooting or problem solving but I enjoy that so that’s actually a bonus.
In some places it’s like playing at being a subsistence farmer but it still allows me lots of time to work on my music (in between Facebook or writing articles). Which is good because I compose and write lyrics slowly.
Coming up in 2021 will be the tenth anniversary of when I began my house sitting lifestyle, although I did get the idea a few years before that when I was asked to look after a house in Karratha. That was such a great experience so, while living in the Flatlands after returning to Perth, I developed a plan to become a continuous house sitter in a forested area where I wanted to live but could not otherwise afford.
The plan worked like a treat: I took a long-term booking to house sit in Parkerville from May 2011. What a great start, Parky is where I grew up and where I longed to be. In anticipation of permanently house sitting up in the Hills, in the Shire of Mundaring, I took on lots of music students in the area from early that year. This meant a long drive each day to teach them for several months, but it was worth it in the long run.
Paid house sitting is a win-win-win: good for me, good for the home owners, and good for the environment. For the first six years there was one less house required on the planet because I didn’t have a home base.
There are some downsides. The frequent moving is a hassle and sometimes there are gaps or overlaps. In one three-month period some years ago I had about four long bookings cancelled at short notice (each for a different reason). Some of the cancellers were able to put me up for a while, which was very kind of them.
In the early days if there were gaps I would stay with my mother in her rented unit near Midland Gate. There wasn’t quite enough room to swing a …, er, better not say it as I often have felines to look after. If my brother needed a room for a week or two either he or I had to find somewhere else. Mum is now 87 and doing well in a nursing home, she’s the brightest one there. She loves seeing Facebook pics on my laptop of Dog Rock in Albany, near which she grew up.
These days I have my own home base as a boarder in a lovely place in Hovea so gaps are not a problem.
Of course, in early 2020 most of my bookings for the whole year were cancelled because of the coronavirus. Western Australia, the second largest state on the planet (ca. 3.5 times the size of Texas) also had regional border closures so for some months home owners couldn’t even take a long drive for a holiday. Eventually, this all changed and now I house sit for people taking caravan holidays or having working trips all over WA. Almost no-one is flying yet, which is partly why the virus is almost non-existent here.
Many years ago I taught piano, singing, music theory and vocal health full-time in my home studio in Claremont or Nedlands, 6 hours per day, about 36 hours per week. At noon I would do an hour’s piano practice, and another five hours from 10pm to 3am. Not recommended.
For the last ten years while house sitting I’ve had a much healthier teaching load and I mostly drive to the students’ homes or teach online. But even this was hit by the coronavirus pandemic. I have my fingers crossed it will also bounce back.
Meanwhile, I have lots of time to compose and record. I count my many blessings frequently.
About house sitting or pet minding
mixmargaret.com/housesitting.html
mixmargaret.com/paid-pet-sitting.html
About teaching music
http://mixmargaret.com/peripatetic-music-teacher.html
http://mixmargaret.com/online-teaching-piano-singing.html