Waffles the beagle spent the first night of the Fourth of July weekend shaking under a dining room table, and so did I, mostly because I was trying to convince him that fireworks were not the end of the world. By the third night he slept on my feet. That weekend paid $165, and it's the most I've ever earned for being a pillow.
Summer is over, at least on paper, so here's the full accounting of what I made pet sitting and dog walking for neighbors in Wilmette from June through August, how I set my prices and where the money is going.
It started small. A family down our street needed someone to walk their dog during the week, and my mom mentioned me to a few friends from the library where she works. Word of mouth did the rest. By June I had four regular households: two dogs who needed midday walks, a pair of cats who needed visits when their people traveled, and Waffles, whose family takes a lot of long weekends.
I work from home two days a week, so midday walks fit around my lunch break on those days. Evening and weekend visits fit around everything else.
What I charged
I asked around and picked simple, round prices that felt fair for our area and didn't require a calculator:
- $20 for a 30-minute dog walk
- $25 for a cat drop-in visit (food, water, litter, a little company)
- $55 for an overnight, which means sleeping at their house and doing the morning and evening routine
I haven't raised prices yet. I want a full year with the same people before I think about it.
The summer in numbers
From June 1 to August 31 I did 37 walks, 14 cat visits and 6 overnights. The math:
37 walks at $20 is $740. 14 cat visits at $25 is $350. 6 overnights at $55 is $330. Total: $1,420.
The six overnights were both of Waffles's long weekends, three nights over the Fourth and three nights in mid-August. Everything else was spread pretty evenly across the summer, with a dip in late July when two families were home for weeks at a time.
It isn't life-changing money, but compared to my regular paycheck of $1,342 every two weeks, it's roughly an extra paycheck for the summer. For dog walks. I'll take it.
It cost me almost nothing, which is the nice part. Most of the houses are walking distance from my parents' place, so I barely drove. I bought a $9 pack of poop bags and a $12 treat pouch, and I spent a few evenings away from my own plans. I also learned that a 30-minute walk with a dog who stops to sniff every mailbox is closer to 40 minutes. Next year I'll keep that in mind when I stack visits back to back.
Where the $1,420 is going
The first thing I did, a little late, was set aside money for taxes. Side income doesn't have anything withheld, so it's on me to cover it when I file. After talking to someone who does taxes for a living, I decided to set aside 25% of everything I earn pet sitting. That's $355 from the summer, now in a separate savings bucket I won't touch until tax time. I'm also catching up on 25% of what I earned in the spring. Starting this month, it happens the day I get paid.
The other $1,065, plus $35 from checking to round it up, is going to my student loans as a single $1,100 extra payment this month. I'm paying off the loans highest rate first, so the extra goes to my 5.05% loan, which is now close to gone. Pushing a lump sum at it felt better than letting the money blend into checking, where I'm fairly sure it would have turned into takeout.
If I did it again, I'd write down every visit the day it happens. In July I relied on memory and had to text two families to confirm counts, which was awkward for me and unnecessary for them. Now there's a pet-sitting tab in the club sheet with the date, household, type of visit and amount.
I'd also ask for payment at the end of each week instead of at the end of each job. Nobody was late, but small amounts are easy to forget on both sides.
Waffles's family already asked about Labor Day next year. He's apparently been sitting by the door at 7 a.m. waiting for me. I'm choosing to believe it's affection and not the treat pouch.
