A travel influencer has revealed how she lived in London for free for two months, without spending a penny on accommodation.
Fole Fowowe, 25, found a perfect way to live in the capital on a budget – by house and pet sitting.
On TikTok the travel-pro goes by @fole.com where she documents her unique lifestyle, as well as giving advice to others who want to give it a go.
One of her videos captioned ‘How to live in London for free’ has been seen by over 26,000 people.
It comes in the midst of London’s housing crisis as lots of young people are struggling to get onto the property ladder – recent data suggested that tenants need a £50k annual salary to rent without sharing in many London and South East areas
Fole Fowowe, 25, found a perfect way to live in the capital on a budget – by house and pet sitting
Fole explained that as she was recovering from a surgery earlier this year, she was living in London and had a lot of spare time on her hands.
So, she signed up to Trusted House Sitters and before she knew it, had bagged her first job – a weekend stay in a house in a town house in Putney.
She looked after two dogs, a cat and four guinea pigs in exchange for staying there.
The TikToker told MailOnline ‘the family were really really sweet, we met them beforehand, and they left us food and beers.
‘The weather was quite good and they had set up the barbecue for us’.
Other properties she’s stayed in include a house in Devon, another ‘amazing’ townhouse in Richmond, and another property in East London that used to be an Airbnb.
After paying £800 rent and bills for her Brixton flat in July, and only staying there for one night, she decided it was time to take up house-sitting full time for a few months before jetting off on her travels.
She said ‘For the whole of July I spent one night at home. I did two house sits, which were a few weeks, and then 10 days, and in between them I went to Paris for three or four days.
After paying £800 rent and bills for her Brixton flat in July, and only staying there for one night, she decided it was time to take up house-sitting full time for a few months before jetting off on her travels
‘So I literally went home for a night for the whole of July, and I paid £800 of rent, and like another £100 of bills.
‘I was so fuming. I’d spent close to a grand, and I haven’t even been in my house, and I think that was the moment where I was like, Wait a second, I could do this full time and days where I need somewhere to stay, I could stay with a friend.’
She realised ‘really quickly’ that there was a lot of demand for house sitters in London and had no problem snapping up jobs.
Adding ‘I had opportunity to stay in frankly much nicer houses, the one that I was able to afford in London’.
Fole estimates she saved thousands of pounds within those months, on both rent and meals as the people she was house sitting for would often provide food for her.
She simply had to stay in people’s home and look after their pets while they were away.
One standout experience for the 25-year-old was staying in an ‘amazing’ Cornwall holiday home, where she stayed with her boyfriend and looked after the owners dog.
She said ‘When the lady confirmed that we could do it I literally was like, I feel like I’ve won the lottery. This house was incredible.
‘We were chatting to her and she said the properties on either side of her were holiday rentals and in August, those houses will rent for a week for £5,000.’
Fole estimates she saved thousands of pounds within those months, on both rent and meals as the people she was house sitting for would often provide food for her
She realised ‘really quickly’ that there was a lot of demand for house sitters in London and had no problem snapping up jobs
She added ‘It’s a really good way to to like get cheap holidays, I would say if anyone wants to sign up for it first and foremost, that’s probably what I would sign up for because staycations in the UK are expensive.’
In a video she said ‘It’s not too good to be true, it’s a real thing that you can do and I’m posting way more videos about it because honestly everybody should do it because the f****** rent in London is insane and you don’t have to pay it.’
Although, she does recognise that the lifestyle is not for everyone and Fole advises that she was only able to do it as she worked from home a lot and had family and friends to rely on if things went wrong.
She explained ‘Doing it full time is not gonna work for everybody and I just wanna make that really, really clear.
‘It’s good for people in positions like mine that are maybe like graduating, especially with the rise of people working remotely.
If you do, just wanna have a couple of months where you’re not paying rent and save a couple of thousand pounds, I do think it’s a really good way to do that.
‘Obviously it doesn’t come without down sides, the risk of cancellation and things falling through which can be stressful.
‘But if you’re flexible and you’re willing to work around those things I do think it’s a good option.’