The 32-year-old from Brisbane, Australia, travels the world, looking after houses and cats.[/B] Practically, in exchange for her half-hour job - which includes feeding and petting the cats and cleaning their litter box - she earns free accommodation in various places.
As she told CNBC, she estimates that in the last four years she has saved about 28.000 dollars in travel expenses, as she's visited nearly 50 homes across Australia and the U.S.
Gourley started this "career" in 2017, when she heard that some of her colleagues were living rent-free by guarding homes, through an app called TrustedHousesitters. At the time, Gourley felt the need to travel and didn't see the point of house-sitting in Brisbane, where she already lived.
So she created a profile on the app, expanded her search across Australia and the US, and added that she had experience as a cat owner. This makes her stand out today when digital nomads are trending and competition in so-called house-sitting is fierce.
Gourley also uses platforms like MindMyHouse, HouseCarers, Aussie House Sitters, House Sitters America and House Sitters Canada to travel overseas, while taking on project contracts for her regular job, which is copywriting for websites. She also documents her travels on a blog called One Cat at a Time.
"Except for the fact that I'm from Australia, it's not very different from having a friend or a neighbor watch your pet," Gourley tells CNBC. "Their house is the only form of payment I get."
As for the rest of her travel expenses, she covers them from her regular job and from the large tax refunds she gets in Australia (which is common in her country because of the high tax rates).
Expenses
Gourley calculated the $28,000 she believes she has saved - a conservative estimate, she says - by looking at AirBnb and rental rates. For example, an average one-bedroom in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood - where she stayed on her most recent trip - costs about $3.200 dollars for rent per month, according to Zillow.
This recent trip was one of Gourley's biggest cat adventures to date: For 75 days, she stayed in nine homes and watched 15 cats in seven U.S. cities, starting in Seattle and crossing the country before ending up in Portland, Oregon, she says.
As of December 2017, Gourley says she has visited nearly 50 homes between the U.S. and Australia.
Of course, the trip includes expenses beyond lodging. In total, Gourley estimates she spent about $7,200 during the trip, or an average of $96 per day.
The round-trip airfare to the U.S. was a particularly expensive ticket, at $1,300. Her costs varied from city to city: During her 21 days in New York, for example, she spent $66 on local transportation passes and $90 to see some local attractions.
Source: moneyreview.gr
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