The Ultimate Creativity Hack For Writers
[image error]
When I tell people–anyone, but especially writers–that I get to live abroad for free while I write, and that, when I live in the US, I get to have free accommodations whenever I travel FOR LIFE, they immediately turn into John Mulaney: SAY MORE RIGHT NOW.
Okay, I’ll bite.
I’m an international housesitter. I live in other people’s houses, all over the world, and while they’re away I take care of their house and pets. Usually cats or dogs. I * did * see an opportunity to care for reindeer on a farm in Norway and was sorely tempted. The houses are everywhere, and yours for the taking if you’re not shady af and do a little legwork. No money exchanges hands, ever. In most house sits, you don’t even pay utilities. I love this whole set-up. It means that world (and domestic) travel is truly accessible to anyone who can cover the cost of their flight and their time away from their job. If you have severe health issues, lack of childcare, and other financial concerns, then, of course, right now might not be the season for you to try this. But housesitting gives me hope that more people can have access to this dream lifestyle of traveling and living abroad, and especially creatives, who thrive so much on experiences like this, but who often can’t afford to have them.
You can do this if you have kids
You can do this if you only have a couple of weeks–or days
You can do this if you’re financially strapped, and have access to enough money to buy a plane ticket
You can do this internationally OR domestically
Sometimes, you can even invite a friend to visit you
Or, housesit with that friend! Or your spouse! Or your sister! Or luxuriate in being alone.
Find out how you can get in on this creative hack, too
[image error]
Me, during out housesit in Lyon, feeling French AF
From August 2018 until May 2019 I got (“get” since I’m still on the journey, as I write this) to live in Lyon, France; Bournemouth, England; Bäch, Switzerland; and Dunfermline, Scotland. In between my housesits, I got to do important research for one of my books in Germany and decided to live in Morocco for ten weeks because I was literally in the area and my friend in Marrakech could arrange an apartment rental for 500 euros a month. Right down the street from a UNESCO World Heritage souk. Before that, I got to live in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with a doorman and all the fanciness I could never have afforded to enjoy in my humble Brooklyn former-tenement walk-up.
To see the housesitting life in action, check out our Insta, Sits Ahoy!, to see what daily life is like on this strange, wonderful road.
The Benefits of Housesitting For Short Stints
:: A few days, a week, or more of a retreat all your own ::
I can’t tell you how many clients, students, or writer friends have been pulling out their hair, dying to get a break to go on a creative deep dive. They want some peace and quiet, they want a break from their normal life, they want to WRITE. But that costs money: retreats are expensive, and so are hotels and cabins and Air BnB’s. But what if you could scrounge up the money for the plane ticket, or the gas money, to go somewhere to write FOR FREE? All you have to do is walk someone’s dog, or clean out their cat’s litter box. (Plus, there’s the therapeutic benefit of furry friends).
What if you could go ANYWHERE in the world? No rent, no utilities. A fair exchange of you keeping their house unburnt and their pet alive and them giving you free reign in the house. Imagine getting to write in your own English garden, on the balcony of your apartment in Lyon, at a desk overlooking Lake Zürich? (Ahem. I did all these things). Find out how.
:: A way to research that book of yours on the cheap::
Part of why housesitting came at the perfect time in my life was because I was working on two books that required deep research in France, Germany, and England. How was I going to do that, when my publishers weren’t willing to help cover the cost? Well, I was able to live in Lyon for two weeks while researching a biography, which gave me the chance to get to know the city REALLY well, and allowed me to afford other travels in France for the book, since I saved so much on accommodation.
[image error]
Writing on my balcony in Lyon
And when I had a two-week stint between housesits, I was able to go to Germany to research the other book. (I could have found a housesit there, too, but I didn’t have time). I lived in England for 10 weeks, which made it possible for me to bop over to London as needed to do archival and other research. I paid for accomodations in London, but the whole trip was cheaper because I was literally living in England at the time and didn’t have to make three seperate flights across the Atlantic for all this research.
With a little planning, it’s possible you could do the same to help lower the cost of your research trips. Find out how.
:: Go on an international vacation, even on a writer’s budget–even with your family::
We writers aren’t usually rolling in it. As a lifelong traveler, I was terrified that I had to give up my traveling in order to live my life as a full-time writer. Now I know that I will get to travel all over the world, my health willing, as long as I can afford the ticket. And with my eye on cheap flights and some flexibility, if the right house sit comes up and we’re a match – bon voyage! If you have a family, many homes allow for that. The French countryside empties out in August and is a great time to go there and housesit.
And that bucket list? Get ready to start crossing things off. In just a few months, here are a few things we got to do:
Visited Stonehenge, which was an hour from my house in England
Went to Versailles on a short stint in Paris after my Lyon housesit
My husband got to ski in Switzerland-at Klosters-which was an hour and a hlaf from our home in Switzerland
Went to Oxford on a day trip – a few hours from our home – to visit the Bodleian and drink in the pub where the Inklings talked about their books
Next up? The Scottish Highlands. Helllloooooo Jamie Fraser!
What’s on your Bucket List? Let’s get that pen ready to start crossing things off.
[image error]
The Benefits of Housesitting Long-Term
:: Saving Money & Reaching Longterm Financial Goals ::
This is obviously not an option available to all, but if you have a way to work remotely as a digital nomad, this is a viable option. I’m a full-time writer, writing teacher (online), and writing coach (which just means I need Internet for calls and communication). My husband’s a writer, but his primary income comes from teaching, so he left his public school job and began teaching English online. We basically lived off his income so I could work on paying off student debt with all that rent, utilities, and car insurance money we were saving.
:: Writing Your Face Off ::
In addition to the financial benefits of living rent free (and how that will help you reach some long-term financial goals quicker), I have also been INSANELY PRODUCTIVE.
In my first seven months of housesitting I wrote four books and nearly half a million words.
Think about it: you’re not going out all the time, your social commitments and family commitments are nil (except for the phone), and you’re saving money on going out because you’re on a major budget. There are no distractions – and there could potentially be zero if you choose a really remote place with poor Internet, which you just might want if your income doesn’t depend on it.
Bottom line: living abroad makes you more expansive, and this could certainly help to increase your flow – and give you loads of new story ideas!
:: Travel – A Lot Of It ::
Not only will you get to tons of cool places, but you will experience cultures in an authentic, non-touristy way. It’s an immersion, and a great chance to learn a language or culture more intimately. And, once you’re abroad, it’s so much CHEAPER to take a vacation somewhere amazing. Our planned vacation to Greece after our Scottish housesit only cost us a few hundred bucks to fly as opposed to thousands. And other opportunities for living abroad could crop up. Once you’re out on the road, a lot more possibilities present themselves–for both business and pleasure.
:: Lifelong Friends Around The World ::
You will often get to meet the homeowners and, depending on your living situation and how long your sit is, there is the potential for real friendships to bloom amongst your neighbors.
Not only that – you get SO MUCH LOVE from so many animals. And if you’re a broke writer who is stuck in rentals that don’t allow pets, this can be a big boost.
[image error]
Zach with Yannick and Hubert (and Gunther!)- our homeowners- in Lyon
:: Mindfulness ::
My experiences living the housesitting life have helped me so much with my mindfulness practice. It’s teaching me to accept what is more easily, to be less attached to material things, to be okay with change and impermanence–and goodbyes. (Oh the kitties and dogs and places I miss!). All of this, in turn, helps me better accept the uncertainties inherent in the artist’s life. It’s a pretty amazing way to learn these lessons.
More About My Housesitting Journey
I got the idea a decade ago, when I was living abroad as an ESL teacher in South Korea. My husband and I were spending a holiday in Langkawi, a gorgeous Malaysian island, and the owner of our guesthouse, Dee, let slip that he was going to London for a year and that some nice Aussie girl he’d never met was going to take care fo the guesthouse and his SEVEN dogs for him. He told me he found her online, that there was this whole WORLD of housesitting.
It didn’t seem possible to do any time soon, so I kept this idea in my back pocket, a little escape valve, should I need it. And then? In the winter of 2017, I needed it.
Back in the spring of 2018, my husband, Zach, also a writer, and I put out an email to our family and friends to tell them we were going on an adventure that might be a shitshow or the great discovery of the modern age. Some sad things happened in my personal life and, on top of that, Brooklyn had eaten all of my money. I was also becoming increasingly frustrated, professionally and creatively.
My husband was still digging the NYC life, but I had to get out. It was killing my creativity and I couldn’t stand writing in a tiny, cramped apartment one more damn day. I was struggling creatively and focusing became harder. I was miserable. And, remember, BROKE. Enter, housesitting. Since Zach and I really had no idea where we wanted to move to in the US from NYC and we were going to have to pack everything up anyway, we decided to go for it.
It hasn’t been easy-breezy, but I’m so glad we took the leap.
[image error]
The Drawbacks
It’s not all rainbows and roses. There are some obvious challenges to this lifestyle – homesickness, isolation, constant change, getting in homes you don’t love, animal drama, etc.
And in order to do this, it’s important that you have access to the medications you’ll need, and the support Stateside. We couldn’t have done this–or at least not as smoothly–with the enormous help of my in-laws, who have really helped us out with becoming our permanent US address and running USA errands for us.
And, sometimes, emergencies happen. Zach had to go home for a week, and it was lucky there were two of us to cover the housesit.
You will absolutely be giving things up: opportunities, financial security (if you have a nomadic job that is less secure than the one you had Stateside), community. You could totally do this alone, but I think it would have been very lonely indeed for more than a few weeks or months if I hadn’t been with my husband. But being in close quarters with one other person so long has its own challenges.
There’s a lot to sort out if you want to do it long term, but if you want to use houseitting as a way to go get some creative zest in your life here and there, then it’s very easy. Got a couple weeks’ vacation? Go for it!
[image error]
Ready to find out more? I’d love to help. Schedule an Explore Session with me to live the hell out of your creative life.
We’ll have a 60-minute call followed by an email from me with curated resources for you, plus you’ll get my Housesitter’s Guide, which is only available through the Explore Sessions. This is chock-full of resources, check-lists, insights for every level of this experience, exploratory journaling, and more.
I’m so excited for those of you who are thinking of starting this journey. If you decide to housesit, please keep in touch! I’d love to hear about your experiences.
Bon Voyage!
Sign up for my newsletter, The Lotus and the Pen, to get your free Revision Guide and exclusive links to start your housesitting journey deep dive through my Inspiration Portal.
The newsletter = special downloads of guided meditations and worksheets, discounts on my courses, creativity and mindfulness hacks, and access to my Inspiration Portal.
