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Living in New York usually means paying some of the highest rents in the country. Alanna Parrish found a way around it. For a year and a half, she has made the city her home base, but she has never signed a lease.
“I spend about 85% of my time here, but I’ve never paid any rent to live in the city, because I house sit all year round,” she wrote in an essay for CNBC Make It.
From an office job to house-sitting
About four years ago, Parrish worked as a project manager at a real estate office in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2022, she quit her job and spent two years traveling on her savings.
When the money started to run out, she looked for a cheaper way to keep going and discovered house-sitting: taking care of people’s homes and pets while they are away, usually in exchange for a place to stay.
Her first house sit, found through the site TrustedHousesitters, lasted three days and involved caring for one dog in San Francisco.
How does she live in New York City with just $800 a month?
About 80% of her house sits are unpaid and in exchange for housing. When she does charge, she asks for $50 to $100 a day. Her main expenses are travel between homes, a $19 phone plan, and about $75 a week in groceries. In total, she spends around $800 a month.
She also has a remote job as a patient support specialist for a telehealth company, which allows her to work from anywhere.
To date, she has completed close to 100 house sits in 22 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.
The hidden costs of her bohemian lifestyle
The arrangement is not for everyone. Parrish sometimes moves up to eight times a month, lives out of a suitcase, and spends hours planning where she will stay next. Last-minute cancellations happen, and the lifestyle can feel lonely at times.
“I love the freedom this lifestyle gives me, but it’s definitely not for everyone,” she wrote. “The biggest trade-off is the uncertainty and the need to be flexible.”
Parrish says she would like to have a place of her own one day, but she has no timeline yet. For now, she enjoys the trade-off. “It’s wild to me that something I started as a way to save money while traveling has turned into a lifestyle and career,” she wrote.