Lucy Mills and Hayley Neal with one of the pets they’ve cared for. Photos: Supplied.
South Coast musicians Lucy Mills and Hayley Neal have hit on an innovative way to pursue their passion while beating the cost of living crisis – becoming full-time house-sitters.
Six months in, they have embraced a nomadic lifestyle that allows them to perform full time as Lucy + Hayley, while house-sitting their way around the South Coast and Illawarra to dramatically reduce their living costs.
For Lucy (34), who has been a musician in Wollongong for nearly a decade under the name Leo, it’s not a new concept.
She has had years of practice in the art of minimal living, converting her small VW Caddy van into a micro campervan, which has now become their accommodation for short periods in between house-sits.
“I really found that if I wanted to do music full time, I couldn’t make it work while paying rent or a mortgage,” Lucy said.
“I just decided if I have a camper van and if I house-sit, then I can pretty much save what I make from music.”
Her partner Hayley (40) quit her secure, full-time desk job in Brisbane as an accountant to pursue the new lifestyle.
“Music was more of a side project for me,” Hayley said.
“Once I got into full-time work in finance and accounting, it really took a backseat completely.
“It was only when Lucy came back into my life during COVID – because we’d known each other for a long time – we started to do bits of music.
“When Lucy moved up to Brisbane and I joined her in gigs, it really took off from there.”
Now based in the Illawarra and South Coast areas, they completely downsized their life to the bare minimum, selling off furniture, and donating crockery and cutlery.
As house-sitters, they don’t ask for any payment, only to be able to stay in the house – looking after the home owner’s pet or plants during the weekdays and gigging on weekends.
It means eliminating the usual stresses from rental payments, internet bills and rising electricity costs.
“We’re currently on a house-sit that’s going for four months through all of winter,” she said.
“Before that, we’ve done six weeks or month-long sits as well, so there’s definitely people out there.
“There’s a lot of grey nomads that need their cat or dog looked after.”
Lucy said they had also relied on friends and family, with their first house-sit this year being for friends and well-known Illawarra music group We Mavericks while members were on tour overseas.
She said their approach involved aligning house-sits with potential music gigs within a one-hour radius.
“It’s not too far to anywhere, really, if you’re just aiming for the South Coast and Illawarra,” she said.
“House-sitting is similar to gigs in the way that you’ve got to plan six months ahead, so we just aim for the house-sits and the gigs to be in the same areas.”
They’re also documenting their journey on YouTube in the hope of inspiring others to explore alternative ways of living.
Viewers can tag along as they meet the pets they care for, experience vanlife, and uncover the Illawarra and South Coast’s eats and hidden gems they find along the way.
Hayley said this first year was about trialling it to see how it would go and taking the risk of leaving her job.
“It’s going really well and I think it’s going to be a long-term commitment,” she said.
Lucy said next she’d like to house-sit and gig overseas, being grateful to those in the Illawarra and South Coast who had helped them so far with houses and supporting their gigs.
View Lucy + Hayley’s next Illawarra and South Coast gigs via Facebook or view their journey on YouTube.
