Do you require an experienced  HOUSE  SITTER ?
Updated 03 March 2021.
(hit your 'refresh' button if you think this page
may be out of date)

I'm available to house sit in parts of the Shire of Mundaring in the Perth Hills.

WHAT  AREAS / SUBURBS?

I love these localities and surrounding areas:
Mundaring (town or shire), Stoneville, Parkerville, Hovea, Mahogany Creek, Glen Forrest, Darlington, Sawyers Valley, Mount Helena, Chidlow, and the southern parts of Gidgegannup.

If you're looking for great references---housesitting, police, work, personal---give me a call or send me an email (see the red email link near the end).

WHAT  IS  THE  COST?

For many years I did house sitting almost always for free. However, since early 2018 I've been renting my own place and now charge a daily fee. See House sitting rates.

I also offer  PAID  PET  SITTING (click on that link for more info). That's where I don't live in but simply visit daily to feed your pets & water your plants.

WHAT  TO  DO  NEXT

If you think you may need a house sitter please send me an email. Be sure to include your location (suburb), dates (even if only approximate or prospective), and your requirements (eg "two dogs, some watering"). Bear in mind that even if I can't accept your booking at the moment I might contact you again if I get a cancellation.

If you're thinking about booking me please  DO  NOT  WAIT  until all your trip details are finalised, contact me NOW even if your dates are uncertain.

Please don't hesitate to ask for a free initial 'no obligation' visit so we can meet and see if it's going to work. I am very happy to meet people 'on spec,' just so we already know each other for house sitting some time in the future.

ABOUT  ME

I'm mature (59, going on 39), sensible, experienced, capable, intelligent. I like living alone and have almost no visitors. Once in a blue moon my brother might visit me, or a friend for bush walking. I'm a good communicator in all media (phone, letter, email, in person).

Although I'm not a gardener I enjoy hand watering lawns & gardens. No stranger to housework. Never smoked, drunk alcohol or used any drugs (I have a drink once a year).

Great rapport with pets. Over many years I've lived with countless dogs (very small, medium, large), countless cats, dozens of fish, some crustaceans, many flocks of chooks (up to 42 in one location), some geese, sheep, goats, cows, alpacas, ponies, one miniature horse, guinea pigs, big pigs, and many birds including budgies, red cap parrots, galahs, weiros, an eclectus and others. Plus bandicoots (quendas) and kangaroos.

HOW  DO  WE  GO  FROM  HERE?

Usually I visit you three times. First to take a few notes and see if we both want to proceed. At the second visit I'll take more detailed notes about how to feed your pets etc. And then I'll visit a day or two before you leave. These visits are free, as is a debriefing visit afterwards if required.

Sometimes a booking gets cancelled when a house is sold or a job is lost. This has happened four or five times so far, so it's worth contacting me even if it looks like I'm already booked as I may have a cancellation.

MORE  ABOUT  ME

Margaret D. Jones (androgyne), highly qualified classical musician, travelling music teacher (teaching students piano, theory or singing in their own homes, not yours).

I practice using a digital piano. If neighbours are close I wear headphones so they won't be disturbed.

MY  WORK  previously included a year or so working in disability support (part-time) in Kingsley and Victoria Park. I worked as a security patrol officer in Karratha (full-time) and Perth (part-time). For five years I was a taxi driver.
 
Sometimes I play classical piano at eateries, such as the now-defunct Soul Tree Organic Cafe which was in Glen Forrest, or the Bay Tree Cafe in Chidlow. I've often played solos or accompanied the Hills Choir in their concerts at EHSHS, and accompanied students for school or AMEB exams.

My background as a security officer means I'm observant and know how to report anything suspicious or noteworthy. One of my house sitting clients in 2013 was extremely glad they had me there when I discovered that burglars had been busy.

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The information below hasn't been added to recently. I kept doing continuous house sitting for exactly six years until May 2017 when I moved-in with my fiancée and her kids. That relationship eventually fell apart (we're still great friends) and I moved to board elsewhere in the Shire.

COMING  UP  NEXT  IN  2014 and into 2015:

I have several bookings, with gaps, through to early 2015.

I'm sorry this is not more up-to-date....

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PREVIOUS  HOUSE  SITTING  (references available, just ask):

2013 December 26 to 12 January 2014: Gidgegannup. Two dogs, lots of  chickens. (repeat client, 3rd time).

2013 December 17 to 25: Parkerville. One pony (miniature horse), two cats, three goats and three chooks.

2013 December 12 to 16: house sitting in Mundaring was cancelled due to the owner's change of plan, so I stayed with a friend in Morley.

2013 October 26 to December 11: Glen Forrest. One dog, two cats.

2013 October 2 to 23: Mundaring, near the golf course. One dog; tropical fish.

2013 Septemer 27 to October 01: A GAP, I stayed with friends in Mundaring and Morley. (House sitting for another friend in Mundaring was cancelled because a holiday was rescheduled.)

2013 September 19 September to 26: Glen Forrest, weiros, red cap parrots, goldfish, bandicoots, possums, wild birds (repeat client, 3rd time).

2013 September 10 to 16: Hovea (the one with the piano) (repeat client).

2013 August 17 to September 10: Darlington. Two dogs (repeat client, 3rd time). This couple had to shorten their trip by a week. They said "Don't worry, when we get back from our overseas trip [a week early] we'll head off in the mobile home and find somewhere to go camping for a week, so you can still stay here," which was very thoughtful but obivously not ideal for them. So I emailed seven others who I'd turned down to see if any still needed a house sitter. That's why I did a repeat at Hovea in September after this one.

2013 July 24 to August 16: Chidlow. One lovely dog and some great bush walks.

2013 July 15 to July 23: Parkerville. Two dogs, two cats, some fish.

2013 July 12 to July 15: Gidgegannup, 3 cats, 13 sheep, 1 ram, 1 alpaca, 4 chooks, watering (repeat client).

(July 2013 in Swan View was cancelled due a job being lost).

2013 June 12 to July 12: Gidgegannup. Two labradores, three alpacas, fish, chooks & a ram.

2013 May 29 to June 7: Darlington (repeat client).

2013 May 20 to 28: nine days in Glen Forrest (repeat client).

2013 May 9 to 17: nine days in Hovea (not the same place as previous December), two small dogs.

2013 May 2 to May 8: Darlington (repeat from Feb. 2013, just two cats & watering this time) (repeat client).

2013 April 12 to May 2: Gidgegannup, 3 cats, 13 sheep, 1 ram, 1 alpaca, 4 chooks, watering.

(April / May 2013: four weeks in Chidlow, near Lake Leschenaultia [not the same place as previous November], was cancelled due to a holiday trip being cancelled.)

2013 March 26 to April 10: Darlington, two dogs.

2013 March 15 to 27: Mt Helena. 2 dogs, 3 cats, 15 chickens (inc. 3 roosters), 3 rabbits, 2 guinea pigs, 6 ducks, 1 goose, two parrots, three other birds in separate cages, some watering.

2013 February 23 to March 10: Parkerville, one dog, watering.

2013 February: 22 days in Darlington, two cats, one dog, one home owner requiring a little assistance.

2013 Mid-January to early February : staying with my best friend in Morley.

(A booking late January to early February 2013 in Parkerville was cancelled because their niece came to stay.)

Mid-December 2012 to 8 January 2013: a few weeks in Hovea, not far from where I grew up. And another piano! What's with all these pianos? Almost four in a row just when my own piano is sitting in a piano tuner's workshop getting reconditioned--perfect timing.

(A booking in Sawyers Valley in Dec / Jan was cancelled due to another property being sold). (Repeat client, would have been my third time with them).

2012 December: two weeks in Mount Helena, one old cat & three chooks.

2012 November: twenty days in Lesmurdie. This is out of my usual area, but you can't always get what you want, you get what you need. This booking was accepted before closer ones came along.

2012 November: nine days in Chidlow near Lake Leschenaultia. Cats, dogs, horses, and a piano.

2012 October: twelve days in Parkerville, two dogs, some fish, some plant watering, and the most amazing view. Not far from where I grew up.

2012 October: six days in Koongamia, two dogs (one a greyhound), three cats, three chooks, and piano. Yay!

2012 September to October: nearly four weeks in Mundaring (near Jarrah Creek), 42 chooks, two ponies, one dog, and a piano. Yay!

(A booking in Wooroloo in Sept / Oct 2012 was cancelled due to the property being sold).

2012 September: a few days house sitting for my brother in Sawyers Valley, two chihuahuas, three geese, a few chickens.

2012 September: one week in Glen Forrest, weiros, red cap parrots, goldfish, bandicoots, possums, wild birds.

2012 July to August: four weeks in Sawyers Valley (repeat client, 14 chooks plus watering).

2012 July: sixteen days in Gidgegannup (repeat client, two dogs, 11 chooks, two ponies to which I fed carrots daily).

2012 May to July: six weeks in Beechina (near Chidlow), four dogs (one is blind and deaf), two cats, numerous fish and crustaceans. The neighbours looked after ponies and sheep (and I fed carrots to the ponies most days).

2012 April: Seven weeks in Mount Helena, four chooks and a little watering on hot days.

2012 April: Eight days paid pet sitting in Mount Helena: 5 chooks (inc. 3 silkies), six guinea pigs, one dog, some watering.

2012 March: ten days in Swan View. 2 poodles and a little watering. Nice swimming pool!

2012 March: two and a half weeks in Mundaring town, two dogs (a ridgeback and a small dog) plus a little watering in the heat wave.

2012 February: four weeks in Sawyers Valley. 14 chooks and lots of watering.

2012 January: twelve days in Gidgegannup. Two medium-large dogs (a ridgeback and a staffie cross) who were an absolute delight, 6 chooks, a few pot plants, mail collecting from PO. Quite an eventful time: thunder, lightening, hail; smelt smoke from 4km and began evacuation procedures (but didn't need to go); power & water failures (used the  generator; Western Power eventually found a fried possum on the line); found stray birds in a covered orchard; gate forced open by storm debris; and a big tree came down. Was only 12 days but it kept me on my toes.

2012 January: Paid pet-sitting in Parkerville, daily visits for 16 days. Two cats, some watering. I don't normally do paid sitting but agreed as the plan was for me to do complete house-sitting some months later for free, and it was school holiday time which is when I have more time on my hands.

2011 December to January 2012: three weeks in Stoneville. Two cockerspaniels, three redcap parrots, two galahs, some watering. This one overlapped a little with the Mundaring house but the owner was happy for me to simply make daily visits initially.

2011 November to December: seven weeks in Mundaring town. One cat, 12 chooks, 20 fish, a worm farm, many newly-planted native plants.

2011 May to October: six months in a house in Parkerville (Mundaring / Perth hills), May to the end of October. This home was complete with two gorgeous cats who always sat on my lap when I watched television.

2009: My very first. 15 weeks in a three-bedroom house in Karratha (Pilbara region), which had been retained by an accounting firm as a staff house but was not required for their staff at the time. At the end of my stay they offered to rent it to me, "for only $1350.00 per week." (They don't use Australian money in the Pilbara, they have their own currency. It's called "Karratha Money.")

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I grew up in Parkerville and Hovea, went to school at Parkerville PS, Eastern Hills SHS, and Governor Stirling SHS (this was all in the Good 'ol Days, up to 1978), but since going to UWA in 1979 I lived away from the area (in the western suburbs, plus 3 years in Sydney and 4 years in Karratha).

Click on the links to learn more about me.
Mobile phone: 0414 374 701.
(Outside Australia: +61 414374701).
Email: see my contact page.
 

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