Madolline Gourley, a native of Brisbane, Australia, has been living in Canada for about three months now, travelling and seeing the sights in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and elsewhere. And she hasn’t had to spend any money on accommodation. She stays with cats.
More specifically, she house-sits for people who have cats that need looking after while they themselves go on vacation or on work assignments. Gourley connects with cat-owners through house-sitting websites like housesitterscanada.com , mindmyhouse.
com or housecarers.com . It’s a handy workaround, given how expensive travel has become in the last few years.
In Toronto, even the most frugal room-sharing accommodations can cost more than $100 a night. For a centrally located name brand hotel like the Sheraton, that can easily spiral to more than $500. A recent Globe and Mail story quoted a couple who estimate they saved $6,000 with a house-swapping scheme similar to Gourley’s cat-sitting gigs, but minus the furry companionship.
Any way you slice it, this is a deal. And while some of the website listings just want someone to mind the house while the owner is away, most involve care and feeding of an animal. Or multiple animals.
“You have your domestic animals like cats and dogs,” says Gourley, 34. “But there are people who have iguanas, people who have a complete farm that you have to look after — so horses, cows, chickens.” Gourley’s a cat person — always has been, since growing up with several cats.
