Unsure of what to provide for your sitter?
This is more of a "tips" post rather than me asking a question. It's for owners who have never had a sitter stay overnight in their house and are unsure what the sitter may need.
Of course, it is always up to you what you decide to leave out/what you allow your sitter to use, but keep in mind that they are providing a service for you that is helping you out tremendously. Although you are paying them, you are essentially paying them for anything that is relevant to the pets. In all other instances you should see your sitter as a guest in your home. So here's a list!
- Clean sheets and pillows- required. Who wants to sleep on dirty sheets? No one!
- Towels for showering- required. It is standard that you provide at least 1 towel for your sitter to use after their shower. 2 full sized towels and a washcloth and optimal, however. Please leave towels in an obvious place for the sitter so they know those are theirs to use- like in the room they'll be sleeping in.
- Personally, I always bring my own shower supplies (except for the towels) and food with me on my stays. You are not required to provide these items for your sitter, but it is common courtesy to offer tools such as coffee filters/empty k-cup pods, pots and pans, etc. It would be insanely hard for a sitter to bring all of these things with them! They might as well move in. If there is any food that they are welcome to, let them know.
- When it comes to expiring food, I assume. Even if it isn't discussed, if you have fruit sitting out that is hitting it's peak ripeness and there's still 4 days left in the stay, I'm assuming that you left it out for me to eat because you didn't get the chance to. Same goes for milk that is reaching it's expiration date. If it's going to expire before you return, I'll drink it.
- It's really helpful when owners let us know where certain things are if they're not in a common place- for example, if you keep your vacuum in a random closet upstairs hidden by coats, it's much easier to let us know that instead of us hunting for it and feeling like we're "snooping". We don't want to go through your things, we just want to vacuum the carpet before you get back because Fido shed a hair ball the size of him! This also goes for other cleaning supplies like pet urine spray (just in case), and general items.
- If you'd like your dog walked during a stay, it's polite to leave poop bags out. Most sitters bring and use theirs, but I'm sure if the owner offers them they use those. Why? Because that cost comes out of our pocket ...