Cornwall woman saves £14k a year on rent - by pet-sitting for free
Fay Locke has stayed in multi-million pound properties around the UK and Europe at no cost
A woman from Cornwall has managed to save more than £14,200 a year on rent - by pet-sitting in multi-million-pound houses for FREE.
Fay Locke, 32, was shelling out over £1,200 each month in rent and bills when her landlord decided to sell her three-bed home in February 2023, forcing her to move back in with her mum and dad in August 2023.
Finding her situation “not ideal”, Fay knew she wanted her own space but couldn’t afford to buy anywhere of her own.
She came across the Trusted Housesitters platform in December 2023, which offered an exchange basis of pet sitting in people's homes whilst they were on holiday.
A “gamechanger” for Fay, she has since done close to 100 pet sits, travelling and staying for free everywhere from the Cotswolds to France, paying just £199 per year for her subscription – and saving her £14,200 on her previous rent costs.
Living visit to visit, taking just her car and a suitcase along after she left most of her belongings in storage, she even brings her own emergency ‘pantry’ in her boot – choosing locations on what suits her most.
Becoming “addicted” to the lifestyle, Fay maintained her remote nine-to-five job as a digital marketer, and has saved enough to buy a £5,250 campervan which she has begun renovating.
In March 2026 she launched her own business as a professional sitter and quit her old job – and splits her time 50/50 between her new venture and booking house sits up and down the country.
Fay, a pet sitter and digital marketer, from Newquay, Cornwall, says: “I had to move back in with my parents for two months which is not ideal in your late twenties, and I was just like, ‘I don’t want to live in this house and would love to buy and live in a van, but it’s not feasible at this point’.
“I discovered Trusted Housesitters in late 2023 and it was just sort of a game changer really.
“I did my first one up in the Cotswolds. I was staying in a sort of multi-million-pound Cotswolds house with an electric gate and underfloor heating.
“There were two lovely dogs and I was just sat there feeling like Kate Winslet or Cameron Diaz in The Holiday.
“I got addicted and hooked on to ‘where is the next one, where am I going?’. I got addicted to it and kept booking sits.
“It was amazing to get the travel aspect of things and getting to basically live in peoples houses for free – I don’t have rent or overheads, and can still work my remote nine to five job as long as there’s good Wi-Fi where I’m at.”
Fays says she always had an element of “feeling different”, and after an ADHD diagnosis in 2024 she “made sense” of why she was not happy living in a standard house and doing a normal nine to five.
“It wasn’t fulfilling me,” she says. “I was quite unhappy, so having this lifestyle of being on the move and sort of getting a dopamine fix, so to speak, from being somewhere different all the time was amazing.
“I’ve been doing it just over three years now and I’m enjoying it. I’ve managed to buy a campervan which I’m going to do up. I’m half living in the van, half pet sitting. I’ve turned it into a business of my own now”.
Having left her role as a digital marketer behind in November 2025, she went freelance and now runs a social media marketing business alongside her new pet sitting venture.
She took some time out last year to live on a farm volunteering, before returning to pet sitting in March 2026.
As for her belongings, they remain in a storage unit which she pays £110 per month for, but she hopes once her van is finished to “get rid” of it and move her stuff into her new home – expecting to spend £10,000 in total on the renovation.
“I don’t have a massive pot of savings. I’m just enjoying myself, but it is a lifestyle where if someone was being frugal they would be able to save loads,” she says.
“My favourite trip was when I decided I wanted to go to France. I did two weeks at the top of France and found another sit two days later, and drove eight hours down to Montayral and stayed in Airbnb's along the way.
“And then I stayed there in the mountains looking after two chickens for a week – it was really easy.
“It was wild as well. I didn’t meet the owner as they had to leave before I got there so they left me a key. They said there was a jazz festival in the village and had organised for a friend to pick me up at 7pm.
“I had no idea who these people are. A little old French lady in her 90s picked me up and didn’t speak a word of English”.
Fay hopes to have her campervan fully renovated by winter this year and taking bookings as a house sitter @travellingpetsitter on Instagram. To join Trusted Housesitters and receive 25% off, you can join via Fay’s code here.
Faye's costs per month before joining Trusted Housesitters:
- Rent - £750
- Food - £240
- Gas and electric - £150
- Council tax - £110
- Fuel - £70
- Car - £60
- WiFi/TV - £50
- Phone - £45
- TOTAL: £1,475
Faye's monthly costs now:
- Fuel - £200
- Food - £150
- Insurance (for car and van) - £120
- Storage unit - £110
- Phone - £50
- Van tax - £29.16
- Trusted Housesitters subscription: £16.58
- Car tax - £2.50
- Utilities - £0
- TOTAL: £558.24
Total savings on rent: £1,183.42 a month (£14,201.04 a year)
Total savings after all current outgoings: £916.76 a month (£11,001.12 a year)