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NOT too long ago, Kylie Ferguson was living in her Adelaide apartment as a single woman.

A few years later, her husband and two children are squeezed into the small space with her.

Now the young family will embark on an unusual year in which they will attempt to live without paying rent or a mortgage.

House-sitting isn’t exactly a new concept.

More than a few of us have looked after a mate’s place and the dog for a week while they were off gallivanting in Cambodia.

And there are even young people doing it long-term to save up a home deposit.

But it’s rare for a family to attempt the same, especially with such small children in tow.

But that’s exactly what the Fergusons will do for the next 12 months.

The apartment she and her husband own with her parents is now on the market and they’re busy packing up their lives to set up (temporary) home at a friend’s place for eight weeks.

“It had started out as a casual conversation,” she told news.com.au. “We have a friend who was going overseas for eight weeks and he said that if we wanted to get out of our small unit, we were more than welcome to bunk at his place.

“We’d been thinking about selling the unit for a while and we thought it might be a really good time to do it. We could be house-sitting and be mortgage-free for eight weeks. But then my dad suggested we could do it all year. And I thought, why not?”

Ms Ferguson put a message out on Facebook just to see what kind of reaction she might get, asking her network how viable house-sitting for a year would be.

She got over 40 responses straight away with various offers of weeks when they would be out of town.

“I thought, my dad is right. There’s something in this.

“This is the perfect time to do it.

“Our eldest is three and she starts kindy next year, so she’s currently not tied to any one place we have to be at. I’m on parental leave at the moment and my husband works all over the city so it’s still convenient.”

Ms Ferguson hasn’t crunched the exact numbers yet but estimated that if all goes well, without having to pay for a mortgage or utility bills, her family could save between $20,000 and $30,000 from their year as nomads.

That’s money she’s hoping to either save or put towards their next home deposit.

Her husband was keen on the idea and they set about establishing some ground rules.

To minimise disruption to the kids, they’ll only be accepting stays that go for at least four weeks.

She’s hoping that if they can lock enough longer-term house-sits, then they’ll only have to make four moves over the year.

They’ve got that first arrangement locked in as well as another place later in the year.

As a base, her parents have offered to put them up for the in-between times.

They can also keep their stuff there, with the items they don’t need (like furniture) stashed in a storage unit.

Ms Ferguson admits that without the generosity of her parents, their ambitions would be difficult so it’s good to have that safety net.

Their first stop — the eight-week house-sitting gig that started this adventure — is at the house of a good friend’s which is only five minutes away from the Adelaide CBD.

It has a pool, which her three-year-old daughter is very excited about and a lot of space, which will be a nice break after years of being crammed into a small apartment.

It also has a cat and a dog, which Ms Ferguson said is a bonus because it will let the family do a trial run of whether they’ll be able to get their own pet once the year-long adventure is over and they settle down in their own home.

“Initially I wasn’t sure about the whole thing as our kids are so small but as we talk to our families and friends more, it’s turned into a small adventure. I don’t know if we’re pioneers or crazy, but we’re one of the two.”