A couple who have travelled the world without paying for any accommodation by house-sitting and dog-sitting at 17 homes have managed to save up for a house deposit, describing their cost-of-living-busting lifestyle as “the best thing (they) have ever done”. Molly Keane, 25, a photographer and content creator, and her boyfriend of three years, Garth, who wishes to keep his surname anonymous, a 30-year-old adviser for a tech company, from Donegal, North West Ireland, have stayed in 17 houses in places including New York, Amsterdam, Barcelona and all over Ireland, since June 2022.
The pair use the Trusted House Sitters app to volunteer to look after strangers’ homes and pets for free and have been doing so full-time since their first stay. Molly has said there is “so much responsibility” to look after the pets, and they once had to take a dog to the emergency vet because he was “so sick”.
Molly and Garth do not have a permanent home – both can work remotely, so the pair house hop around Ireland and abroad every few weeks – and, on their travels, they do not have to pay for any accommodation or utilities, which they said is “such a privilege” considering the cost-of-living crisis. The couple saved “more than (they) ever thought (they) would” and have enough to put down a deposit on a house, but “have no plans to settle down for a while” as they are planning on continuing their travelling lifestyle for the foreseeable future.
