Petsitters payment in kind.

[Georgiepud]

A friend and her daughter are coming to pet sit our 2 cats and 2 guinea pigs during the summer holidays for a fortnight.
They will have the use of a nice house and garden in a pleasant location (Cotswolds). All electricity, mod cons etc.
My question is, how many "extras" should I leave out for them? I mean things like -
Tea bags and coffee capsules
Loo rolls
Dishwasher tablets etc etc
I don't want to appear mean, but ........

OP, they are doing you a favour- no matter how many mod cons you have.

Honestly, if they're houseitting foc, I'd make sure there's a month worth of each of the supplies you mention just in case they need them. It's still going to work out much cheaper than hiring in professional petsitters

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

All mod cons 🤣🤣🤣

Im a pet sitter and charge £45 a night. You aren't doing them a favour... they are helping you massively. I can't believe you are questioning loo rolls..... I'm embarrassed for you. Stop being a tight arse ffs!!

OP clearly stated in her opening post that she’s being generous enough to supply ALL electricity.

she’s really going above and beyond.

I pet sit (unpaid) through an app for people I’ve never met, and even they leave the basics like loo roll/dishwasher tablets!

The kind ones leave milk and say “help yourself to anything in the cupboards, just let me know if you use up the last of anything” and the really lovely ones also leave some wine/biscuits/treats.

Since it’s your friend, I’d leave a basket of goodies that you know they’ll enjoy!

Were you thinking of hiding loo roll and dishwasher tabs
Your friend is saving you about £5/600!!

Ahhhh but is she turning the gas and water off at the mains or not?

God almighty!
They’re saving you hundreds in cattery fees and you wonder if they should provide their own bloody T bags and loo roll.
I would stock up as if for ourselves and tell them to help themselves to everything in the fridge and cupboards. I would also leave nice treats for them. It’s the least you can do.

WTAF - you sound as bad as the OP!

I would leave them all the lovely things suggested above plus a couple of hundred quid to treat themselves with meals out/takeaways etc.

You are having a laugh surely OP?
If not, you stock up on essentials and leave them some treats. And you clean up beautifully and buy some flowers for the main rooms.

You are having a laugh surely OP?

I think they must be.
Must have a second user name as @BotterMon too. It's the only explanation I can think of.

I looked after next doors dog for a week, they didn't even leave me enough bloomin dog food!

OP, as others have said, you need everything in there as if you were there, lol, I did laugh over toilet rolls and dishwasher tabs! And some nice treats, wine, sweets for the daughter, some meals and a bit of cash so they can treat themselves to a couple of takeaways.

I think it was a little bit of a pee-take!

How much would you need to pay for cat sitting (or for someone to come in twice a day to feed your pets) if your friends didn’t want to do it? The answer should tell you how much you should spend on treats for them.

I used to catsit for a friend. She used to leave me some treats and money (not as much as she’d pay a profesional cat sitter but enough to buy a meal). After a while she stopped leaving money, I guess she started to think that she was doing me a favour by making her beautiful house available for me to live in for a week. What she didn’t take into account is that I would have to pack, spend time and money on travel to get to her, be responsible for animals who are not mine… Whilst she needed someone to look after her cats, I did not need to be somewhere other than home. So I refused to help going forward.

OMG you're the definition of mean.

You're as bad as Silas Marner.

Tell you what, put your animals in pet boarding and pay the bill. It will cost you a lot more than loo rolls and dishwasher tablets. Bloody tight arse.

This has to be a wind up.

payment in kind?

loo rolls, dishwasher tabs
🤣🤣🤣🤣

The 21st century scrooge has arrived.

My cat sitter just visits twice per day for fuss and feed and charges 25 pounds per day for 1 cat 35per day for 2 cats for 2 weeks 350/490 ponds. Local cattery charges 45 pounds for 1 cat 55ponds for 2 sharing per day plus food, so if you aren't paying your friends this sort of money i suggest you lavish them with a fridge full of goodies and leave lovely toiletries.

My pet sitters have access to everything - anything in the pantry/ fridge/ cupboard, the cleaning/laundry supplies. I may leave them some toiletries/pamper hamper and some wine as I’d not expect them to use my already opened toiletries if they’ve forgotten their and they know they can have a few bottles of wine if they fancy some (they never have). They are coming to stay in my home to ensure my dogs are safe and cared for. It’s not an air b n b.

ETA are you not paying them actual money too? Mine are fully paid for, insured etc despite being good friends now. Our house is pretty luxury too (7 bed/5bath/cinema&audio room) but that’s still not ‘payment in kind’ to grant them admission and residency 🤣

Well, if you don't want to buy loo rolls what do you expect them to use? The litter tray?
A massive favour is being done here and your saying leaving them with detergent to use your facilities is kind?

I think you consider your nice house in the Cotswolds to be their payment, when actually they are doing you a huge favour, saving you money and giving you peace of mind.
Just have everything you would normally have available for them to use. Make sure they know they're welcome to do so. Maybe leave them a gift, or bring something back with you for them.
If you're not comfortable with them using your things maybe you should rethink the arrangement and book a cattery.

Wow!!! Loo rolls? I am a paid pet sitter and the families always leave me a fridge full of food and some lush bath bombs. Plus I get paid!