We are taking a vacation next month and plan to use a house sitter to mind our dog and cat. He is a friend/acquaintance, single, late 20's, with a good job. He is someone we trust and I feel lucky that he can house sit for a week. He will be paid.
In addition to my bedroom, we have a guest room. The guest room is nice and on the hall with a bathroom. My bedroom has a TV and bathroom. Is it typical to ask a house sitter to use a guest room or the "best" bedroom (our bedroom)? Do I not mention it and let him choose?
Also, should I empty the fridge (like a typical vacation week) or stock with some things for him to eat? I am leaning toward stocking with a few single-serving meals, deli meats and milk/eggs. But maybe he doesn't want to cook or manage that stuff?
I put our dog sitter in the spare room. Our room is nicer, but I don't want to have to tidy it before vacation.
I use a college student, and they always say we don't have to buy them stuff. To be nice, we usually buy snacky stuff which we wouldn't usually have in the house (cookies, chips, icecream), shelf stable/frozen stuff that I'll use if I need to (pizza, frozen fries, cereal, english muffins, pasta, jarred marinara), and stuff that will keep past my vacation so I can use them if they don't (eggs, juice). Sometimes we'll leave a gift card for a pizza delivery place too.
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I am super weird (or maybe normal) and I would not want anyone sleeping in my bedroom and/or using my bathroom. They would totally stay in the guest room. I'm not sure abt food. I'd hate for you to buy stuff and have it go to waste, ykwim? A few things in the freezer is a good idea.
Post by imojoebunny on Feb 1, 2018 10:53:21 GMT -5
Our house sitter is a single male in his early 30's. He works nearby, and can come at lunch, in addition to staying with the dogs at night. He sleeps in the guest room, with attached bath. I make sure to have clean sheets and towels laid out for him, and that the fridge has space for food, but I don't clean it out beyond throwing out the stuff that would go bad while we are gone.
The dogs sleep on the floor with the guest room, so it makes the most sense to have him on that floor, too. I don't want him in our bedroom, and don't want to have to make up our bed right when we are leaving/coming home. We pay him $50 a day, the regular rate for professional house sitters around here, and do not leave snacks or money for food. He is not a professional sitter, he is a teacher, and I very much trust him. He, also, sits overnight for our kids, then we leave him money for food for all three of them to go out at least once a day, and food for eating at home.
Stick him in the guest room. My sister is our dog sitter and stays in the master and it’s a giant PITA to change our sheets as we are leaving, often to catch an early flight, but we don’t currently have a room set up as a guest room.
I have house sat for various people before. If they had a guest room, that is where I slept.
I also think it's a nice gesture to leave some food/snacks. It doesn't need to be enough for him to eat all meals there but sandwich meats, milk, eggs, and such are nice to have on hand.
Post by turnipthebeet on Feb 1, 2018 11:28:02 GMT -5
I also wouldn't eat someone else's fridge food or fresh produce.
Am I weird? I don't know why I'm like this. I would definitely want some space in the fridge for food I buy, though. I think I would worry about being judged. I have issues.
We occasionally have a house sitter. They stay in the guest room, but we don’t have a tv in our bedroom either and the guest room has an attached full bathroom. So the rooms are similar in every aspect but size. I hate when people sleep in my bed except my immediate family so I usually don’t offer it. I don’t buy anything special food wise but leave a note that they are absolutely welcome to have anything. We are pretty well stocked snackwise regularly. When I was a house sitter in college I slept in the guest room always except for one couple who asked me to sleep in the master because their dog liked to sleep with a person in the master bed.
I house/dog sit for a friend. I sleep in the master because that is where the dog sleeps and she is used to sleeping with a human. The dog isn't allowed in the guest bedroom or the guest house so I sleep where she sleeps; she is getting old and her hearing is failing so she likes being near a human.
My friend made me write out a list of food that i like and she stocks up the fridge for me and also leaves some $$. She usually buys me way too much food and I end up bringing most of it home with me. I can eat whatever I want from their pantry and the garden; if I end up house sitting during strawberry season I get fresh berries every day. I also have access to pot baked goods (cookies and brownies) that they keep in the freezer; too bad I dont partake in that stuff.
My sister is ours if we are gone a super long time. She sleeps in the guest room that she has declared is her room. We usually leave her food, but she buys more. If she is staying we are gone for more than a week. She needs the cheat sheet for the main TV and already has the WiFi and computer passwords.
She has had a friend stay over at times. (we know him well and aren’t creeped out) but he isn’t her SO - so he slept in our room (they failed to figure out how to make the bed in the other guest room adult sized) - she changed the sheets before we got home. Sheets were clean before we left because I’m weird and have to clean the house before we leave.