Now, just a year later, she lives rent-free and can travel the world while working remotely. Despite the removal of rat race for the benefit and halving his working hours, Welsh says he is surprised that his disposable income is almost the same as in corporate London.

And it’s all thanks to pet sitting.

Welsh started pet sitting casually in 2024, initially as a way to travel cheaply around the UK. But after a career break and a backpacking trip to Southeast Asia, she decided she didn’t want to go back to full-time office life.

“I want to continue my flexible lifestyle,” he said luck. “It’s ingrained in us that the only career option is to keep climbing the ladder, but maybe you’re on the wrong path, or your interests may progress beyond the path you’re on.”

Pet sitting offers a practical solution. It eliminated the rent, generated income, and allowed him to stay in London without re-entering the city’s brutal housing market.

“I felt relief,” Welsh recalled of the fateful moment he left his 9-to-5 for good last summer.

While others may perceive living out of a suitcase and not having a permanent job or place to call home as anxiety-inducing, she feels the opposite. After years of following the corporate route laid out for him, he’s no longer in the backseat—he’s driving. “I feel happier. I feel in control of my life now.”

You can earn $70-a-day pet sitting, with no training required—and you can still do other odd jobs in between.

Welsh charges £50 (about $70) per day to watch dogs and £40 a day to cat-sit, for a minimum of 5 days. His longest booking with a client is 5 weeks.

His day consisted of walking the dog and following strict rules pet parent placed for their fur babies. And, of course, during that time, he stays at the pet owner’s house and avoids paying any rent.

In addition, he has enough free time to take on side hustles, passion projects or freelancing opportunities to increase his income and skills—now, he does a maximum of 2 days a week in freelance PR.

Of course, there are trade-offs. He has no employer pension, not much long-term security, and accepts that freelancing is risky. But financially, he said the equation works.

“I earn £56,000 ($77,000), I take home like £3,300 ($4,500), and I pay £1,100 ($1,500) for its rent,” Welsh said. “And then obviously you factor in paying for food, the cost of living in London, you know, your money is drained by socializing.”

In the UK, his low income means he falls below the higher rate 40% income tax threshold (£50,270) and pays less National Insurance, while also reducing student loan payments, which take 9% of income above £27,295. By earning less than he did in his corporate job, he saved more of every pound he earned.

In fact, by dropping into a lower tax bracket, going freelance, and avoiding rent altogether, he’s left with the same amount of money in his pocket at the end of each month—despite working less than half the hours he used to.

“I’m not one of those people who just take risks without thinking about the financial implications,” Welsh added. “You don’t work much, but you can effectively bring home a really decent amount of money, because you save them whatever you lose in tax, National Insurance and student loans, which for me is like £1,400 ($1,900) a month.

And besides, that’s more than Welsh expected to go down this alternative career path.

“I just had to completely let go of any idea of ​​a certain salary I had; my priority was my own happiness.” After all, he already had a job title and salary and that “didn’t make me happy. I had to do something else.”

“Obviously, there’s a risk that I could be fired at any point, and I have to remember that I can’t get a pet job sitting or sitting at home, and that means I have to stay on a friend’s couch, or book a Airbnbor go back to my parents’ house or go abroad. But it hasn’t affected my standard of living at all… and I really like that flexibility.”

Pet sitting or polyworking isn’t for everyone—but for those who are interested, she says it’s easy to get started.

Since career pivoting last year, Welsh has lived and worked across the UK—from Brighton to Devon to Cornwall—and internationally in Portugal. The millennial has also traveled to 12 countries, launched a blog, started a supper club, taken on volunteer projects and is eyeing future animal development courses to get her teeth into. He’s now talking about pet sitting for a few weeks in LA.

“I think they call me the polygamous careerbut that seems like a negative,” Welsh said. “I used my skills, my intelligence and my qualities as a person to develop and create other ways of living for myself that weren’t just the kind of linear career path that I was on—it started working for me very quickly, and I felt good.”

“The relief of not paying rent or a mortgage frees up your capacity to pursue other things in your life. Usually, if you’re working five days a week, you don’t have room to do that.”

Moreover, he will not feel that his reputation or his long-term career prospects have been damaged. If anything, Welsh says climbing the ladder has sharpened—not softened—how he presents himself professionally.

“I don’t feel a loss when it comes to status, I’m still respected, I do the things I’m good at and I enjoy it more so I’m less stressed, and I feel like my brain is functioning at a capacity that works for me.”

For those looking to copy Welsh and quit the rat race, his advice is this: “Think about your lifestyle first. What do you think makes you happy? And then choose a job around that.”

And for those looking to get into pet sitting specifically? Good news: Welsh says it’s easy to get in, and there’s a lot of demand in big cities like London.

“My advice is to get insurance and get your DBS (criminal record) check or any kind of reference points to show you’re of good character…And obviously, if you have experience with animals, that helps.”

He built his own reputation by leafleting his services around London, getting testimonials from previous jobs, and then sharing his LinkedIn and Instagram (@thehappyh0usesitter) with potential clients.

“Once you have five to six sitting under your belt, you can think about billing and make sure you’re doing a good job every hour and following the instructions you’re given,” he added.

“Like starting any side hustle, you have to hustle. But you want to show that you’re a trustworthy character when you’re living in someone’s house.”