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- A video producer said moving to Croatia on a remote-work visa cut his monthly expenses to $1,424.
- In Jersey City, where he was before, average rent for a one-bed apartment is nearly $3,000 a month.
- Steve Tsentserensky outlined his income and expenditure in a CNBC article.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
A 35-year-old video producer and writer whose income plummeted at the start of the pandemic moved from the US to Croatia, and now he spends just $1,424 a month including rent, according to an article he wrote for CNBC.
Steve Tsentserensky said that he used to make around $4,000 a month as a freelance video producer. But these gig earnings dropped to around $700 a month after the pandemic hit.
"Due to all the uncertainty about the future, I found myself sleeping on a futon at my sister's house in New Jersey," he wrote.
Tsentserensky said that he had visited Croatia before and was "utterly captivated." So when the country announced that it would start offering a one-year residence permit to "digital nomads," he decided to apply.
To qualify for Croatia's permit, workers need to show that they earn at least $2,750 each month. Tsentserensky said that he "aggressively" built up an income stream from freelance video production and copywriting gigs, and that his monthly income returned to about $4,000 by December 2020.
Coupled with about $76,000 in savings, "I felt financially secure enough to live abroad," he wrote.
Tsentserensky moved to Split, the second-largest city in Croatia, where he works about eight hours each weekday. He said that most of his clients are based in the US so he has to adapt his working hours around time zones.
Here's how much he spends
The cost of living is "much cheaper" than most US cities, he said.
Tsentserensky lives alone in a 650-square-foot apartment. Rent is $540 a month including utilities, accounting for just over a third of his monthly expenditure, he said. Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Jersey City, not including utilities, costs $2,779, according to RentCafe.
His biggest expense is food. Tsentserensky said he spends around $608 a month on groceries, eating out, and drinks - although meals aren't expensive.
Lunch out in Split costs between $10 and $14, he said, rising to between $18 and $30 for an evening meal, including drinks and tip. Espressos at cafés cost around $2, he added.
Health insurance comes in at $65 a month and recreational travel at $185. On top of that, he spends $14 a month on subscriptions and $12 on his phone.
"The pace of life in Croatia is dramatically different - and much more my speed - than in New Jersey," Tsentserensky wrote. "There isn't much to complain about."
His permit in Croatia expires in March 2022, but he said he planned to visit other countries offering similar visas for remote workers "and continue the nomadic life for as long as I can."
During the pandemic, some white-collar workers and freelancers left their desk jobs to work in other corners of the US or overseas amid a huge rise in remote working.
Some employers are now letting staff work from overseas - Revolut, one of Europe's biggest startups, said its staff can work abroad for up to two months each year, for example.
And there's money to be made by catering to digital nomads. A hotel in Aruba is offering workstations on the beach for remote workers, while RV makers are adding office, desk, and WiFi options.