House or pet sitting

For pet owners (for those looking for a "free" holiday, scroll down): 

Pet parents know how difficult and expensive it can be to board your dog or cat when you go on a holiday.

At about $25 a day in Sydney, a week away can quickly add to your holiday cost (imagine all the extra shopping you could do!). Then there's the worry of your pet living in a strange environment, taken out of their daily routine, and whether they might get along with the other "hotel guests".

Or perhaps you simply want someone to look after your house while you're away?

Happy Housesitters is a great way find someone who will be happy to look after your house and pet while you're on holidays, giving you the peace of mind that all is well at home. Of course, you need to do your homework and take necessary precaution - meet the housesitter beforehand, obtain references, perhaps take a bond/deposit, etc. - but if things work out, you'll have someone reliable to call on whenever you need to go away.

For those looking for a "free" holiday: 

Maybe you're thinking of moving to an area, but would like to find out what it's like to actually live there first. Or you're just looking for a temporary change of scenery or a short holiday.

Happy Housesitters is a fantastic way to score free accommodation at a location of your choice, in exchange for looking after someone's pet and home. This way not work if you don't like animals, but if you do, it's a wonderful experience to live with a pet for a short period of time!

I was a member of Happy Housesitters for a year and got to "holiday" at some great spots - a lakeside house on the Central Coast, a house that came complete with hot tub and pool by the beachside suburb of Manly, and a modern unit right near the city on New Year's Eve (fireworks!). They were great spots, the home owners were fantastic, the animals were gorgeous and I got a great holiday (with FREE accommodation) all at the same time.

And now, even though my membership has expired, I have returned several times to those houses, giving further value to the fees I initially paid.

Website

Cost:

• FREE for home/pet owners. 
• Fees for house-sitters varies, depending on areas. A 12-month membership starts from $115

Animal foster

aka How to have a pet without paying for it.

Whether it's because you're not sure if you want to commit to looking after a pet for the duration of its life, you want to do some form of charity work or you just love animals, fostering animals with the RSPCA is a good way to go.

The RSPCA puts it this way: "The purpose of foster care is to place into temporary care those animals who are not suitable to be housed in the shelter environment, whether they are too young or small to be eligible for adoption, are recovering from illness or surgery, or have behavioural reasons such as being timid or not coping at the shelter."

 The animals live in your house as a pet for about five weeks and when they're old enough, are returned to the RSPCA for adoption. The RSPCA provides the food (and for cats, kitty litter) and all you need to do is give the animals a good home and some good loving. Easy.

The hardest part comes when you have to say goodbye after they've become a part of your life for over a month. Of course, you have the option of adopting your foster animal, but if you do that for every animal you foster . . .

You have to pick your foster animal up and drop them back when they're old enough (so having a car is probably a good idea). You may have to take your foster animal back to the RSPCA for vet checks, deworming sessions etc every fortnight as well. Small price to pay really, for the pleasure of having a pet in your home.

Please note that to become a foster carer, you must first join the RSPCA as a member, attend an information session (two-hour or so, usually on a Saturday) and have a premise inspection done. The premise inspection is conducted by an RSPCA employee who will make an appointment with you for it to be done. They're basically checking to ensure that the animals will be secure in your home, that they can't escape via the windows or jump off the balcony into oblivion etc.

Website

Cost: FREE


Enquiries: Email Hannah Burfitt, RSPCA NSW Foster Care coordinator.

Map:
RSPCA Yagoona Shelter
201 Rookwood Road, Yagoona


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Dog-walking

If you're missing Fido because you had to leave him behind before moving to Sydney, if you're unable to own a pet because of restrictions where you're currently living or if you simply want to cuddle and walk some dogs without actually owning a pet, then you might want to visit Monika's Doggie Rescue.

Monika's Doggie Rescue is a private registered charity that tries to save and re-home dogs from the council pounds. These dogs, if not rescued, would otherwise be euthanised. When rescued, the dogs live on the premises at Ingleside until they are adopted by a loving family.

Because Monika's Doggie Rescue is mainly volunteer-run, help is always needed when it comes to giving the dogs some quality and loving human attention, as well as walking time.

If Ingleside is too far to travel, you can also visit the Petbarn in Alexandria on Saturdays to walk the dogs.

There are almost always dogs available to walk, there is no need to make an appointment and it is great fun to spend an hour or two walking the dogs to a nearby park and having a bit of a play-time with them. After the fun is over and the dogs are played-out, you then return them to Monika's, knowing that you have given an animal some good loving attention and a walk they badly needed.

Website (where you can adopt a dog or look at a list of other volunteer jobs)

Cost: FREE!

Walking times:
Ingleside: 10am - 4pm, Tuesday to Sunday
Alexandria: 10am to 3pm, Saturdays

Note: First timers should bring photo ID to register as a volunteer. If you are under 18 years old, you will need to bring an adult with you.

Maps:
Monika's Doggie Rescue
2 McCowan Rd cnr Bloodwood Rd, Ingleside


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Petbarn Alexandria
Corner of Harley Street & McEvoy Street, Alexandria NSW


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Campervan hire

Standby Relocs is particularly hip-pocket friendly if you're flexible with when you want to travel and even better if you're not too fussy about where you want to travel too.

Basically, people sometimes hire campervans for only one-way, but the rental companies need the vehicles back in the city of origin. Which is where you come in.

The website has a list of campervans that need to be relocated back to their city of origin and also includes how much it costs to hire the vehicle and other inclusions (fuel allowance, distance allowed to travel, etc.).

The journey is usually longer than say from Sydney to Newcastle (think Sydney-Cairns, Sydney-Melbourne . . . road trips that you would normally like to travel in a campervan for) and has to be done in a certain number of days, but is usually more than adequate for a nice amble/road trip, with side trips and detours included.

So you not only get a cheap car hire deal to do your tour, you save on accommodation costs as well.

The only catch of course is that your hire would be one-way, which means you'll most likely have to find an alternate way to do your return trip. But if the stars line up, you may be able to do another campervan relocation for the return trip!

Website (to find the latest deals and make a booking)

Cost: varies according to destinations and campervan type, but deals can be as good as $1/day for a few days and may even include money towards fuel.

Entertainment Book (Discount vouchers)

Two types of people will like (and use) this book:

• You like eating out and are willing to try out new restaurants
• You are new in town, have regular visitors or simply like visiting places of attraction and experiencing new activities

The Entertainment Book is filled with coupons and is a "is a local restaurant and activity guide providing hundreds of 25% to 50% off and 2-for-1 offers from the finest restaurants, cafés, attractions, theatres and accommodation."

The Book is not terribly cheap, but does pay for itself fairly quickly. You can save about $10 per meal (based on two people using a 25% off voucher), and many entry fees to places of attraction have 2-for-1 deals.

The Book is sold as a fundraiser and so can only be purchased through charities, schools or non-profit organisations (the organisations get a certain cut for every book sold).

One other thing, the businesses featured in the Book are not dingy, out of the way, unknown businesses. A good number of them are fairly popular and a large majority of the restaurants serve really good food.

I found it helpful to keep the book in my car so when I'm out and feel like going to a restaurant for a meal, I can simply browse through the suburb list and decide where to eat. It's also really helpful that the list tells you what kind of cuisine the restaurant serves.

Website

Cost: $65 a book

Areas: Three Sydney books available - Sydney, Sydney North and Parramatta, Hills & Greater West ($60). Books for other major Australian and New Zealand cities also available (cost varies).

Validity:  From the date of purchase (usually in April) till June 1 the next year.

To buy: Check with your local school or non-profit organisation.

Meadowbank TAFE Massage Clinic

So you like the thought of a full body massage but not too keen on paying over $120 per session?

Try out the Meadowbank TAFE's Massage Clinic for a fraction of the cost. Your one-hour session includes a short consultation with a massage therapy student at the TAFE, who will cater the massage according to your needs.

The students are usually near graduation and so you can be assured that the session is professionally done. The course lecturer does come in halfway during your session for a few minutes to ensure the students are giving you the correct type of treatment, but the interruption is minimal.

At the end of the massage, your massage therapy student will also provide you with some pointers and exercise to avoid future injury or further stress to tight areas.

The massage takes place in a large room that holds about 10 massage beds, all of which are separated by curtains, giving you privacy. Noise from other patients are minimal and there is soothing music playing in the background.

Bear in mind however that because the massage clinic is ultimately a training school, you cannot choose your therapist/student and neither can you choose the gender of your therapist/student. You find out who the person is at the time of your session.

Website (including directions)

Cost: $25 for a one-hour session

Appointments available: (not open during school holidays, generally June and November-January)
Mondays - 5.30pm, 6.40pm and 7.50pm
Tuesdays - 5.20pm, 6.30pm and 7.40pm
Fridays - 1.30pm, 2.40pm and 3.50pm

To make an appointment: Call (02) 9942 3623

Map:

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