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

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.