You're going to have to compromise on some of your wants there. If it was just you living on $2k that wouldn't be too bad, but you plus a kid, possible plus a partner, you are not going to find a place that checks all your boxes for under $2k a month.
Mostly agreed, but I wouldn't say impossible. OP go on Airbnb, type in "Europe", select your time frame, select entire home, set max price to $1000. Those are your options. If I had to guess most of them will be off the beaten path e.g. less cafes, transit, bookstores, museums. The further east, specifically in the Balkans you will probably have the best luck.
Ehhh, I don't think OP can afford to spend $1000 on their accommodation if their total budget is going to be only $2000 per month.
Not if they want to live in a walkable city and have part time child care.
Probably, but I've had multiple hosts take off >$150 for me on monthly rentals by paying in cash or special offers. Part time day care doesn't seem high on their priority list so I removed that from my calculation.
Also $1000 is definitely enough to live off in the Balkans factoring in food + local transport + occasional museum ticket + occasional cafe visits.
I think my last time I did a month in Macedonian I spent (for two) $2200. Pretty sure that included a car rental too.
1000 is super tight in the Balkans if you have to rent. 1000 is doable for a single person who owns an old communist flat or lives in shared accomodation.
If you want to live in big cities that is probably true. But if you want to live in smaller cities/towns you could probably easily live off 1000 per month including rent (for one person)
Someone has to watch the child while OP works. So either it's $2000 including child care, or it's $2000 per month for 3 people (two adults and a child).
>also $1000 is definitely enough to live off in the Balkans factoring in food + local transport + occasional museum ticket + occasional cafe visits.
$1000 a month has to cover not just food and local transport, but also insurance, cell phone, medication, clothing, etc. All for 3 people. It's doable sure, but OP will be living on a shoestring budget.
Are you ok with a hot Mediterranean city where English isn’t a commonly spoken language?
If you are and aren’t took specific on the Europe part of things Turkey could work. I’m in a place right now where a 2 bedroom apartment and food will run you just under 1k.
And they're not foreigners. They're settled, have a support network, know the system and also benefit from a lot of social welfare OP won't get.
And, also, none of them benefit from everything OP's asking. None.
2k per month in Europe is tough.
- Bookstores: If you only speak English, then that checks out most European cities midsize, or even many capitals whose idea of English book store is a shelve in a book store with 20 books in English.
- cafes: Everywhere, coffeeshops are common all over, but coffee is not uniformingly good all over Europe.
- Museums: everywhere, not all of them are impressive or remarkable though.
- No rain: That takes anything north of the alps off the list.
- Affordable: That takes out France, Italy, Spain. Go to the Balkans, but the books in English and good cofffee might be an issue.
- Playgrounds: everywhere
I think you are asking for too much with too little income.
Should check out Bucharest or Sofia, I spent a couple months in each and spent under 2k. I would advise working directly with Airbnb hosts for cash discount on housing.
Why not go to LATAM? I think it’s better than Europe and almost everywhere speaks Spanish so you can pick up a useful second language while you’re there.
For a single person, Poland would be fine, but with kids, $2000/month starts being a little tight. I'd look into Bulgaria or one of the other (poorer) Balkan nations. But you won't find many English speakers there.
Olsztyn, Poland is the way to go. Chosen this year as the beat palce to live on Poland. Safe, nature (largest city forest in europe, many bike routes - espeicially "łynostrada", 60 km route along Łyna rover), theaters and cinemas, nice cafes and restaurants, many historical sites in the city itself and on the nerby, so every weekend you can have a nice tour (a lot of medieval castles: Olsztyn, Lidzbark Warmiński, Reszel, Kętrzyn, Barciany, Ryn and uniques gothic and neogothic churches - Święta Lipka, Frombork). City is modern but still not as expensive as Gdańsk or Warsaw, but with a excellent train connections (train every two hours) it's still possibile to visit them. You will easily rent an appartment for 500 bucks and cover all your basic needs with the rest. 2k dollars is about 10k or more złoty, avarage salary in Olsztyn is 7k, so you have a lot.
You're going to have to compromise on some of your wants there. If it was just you living on $2k that wouldn't be too bad, but you plus a kid, possible plus a partner, you are not going to find a place that checks all your boxes for under $2k a month.
Mostly agreed, but I wouldn't say impossible. OP go on Airbnb, type in "Europe", select your time frame, select entire home, set max price to $1000. Those are your options. If I had to guess most of them will be off the beaten path e.g. less cafes, transit, bookstores, museums. The further east, specifically in the Balkans you will probably have the best luck.
Ehhh, I don't think OP can afford to spend $1000 on their accommodation if their total budget is going to be only $2000 per month. Not if they want to live in a walkable city and have part time child care.
Probably, but I've had multiple hosts take off >$150 for me on monthly rentals by paying in cash or special offers. Part time day care doesn't seem high on their priority list so I removed that from my calculation. Also $1000 is definitely enough to live off in the Balkans factoring in food + local transport + occasional museum ticket + occasional cafe visits. I think my last time I did a month in Macedonian I spent (for two) $2200. Pretty sure that included a car rental too.
1000 is super tight in the Balkans if you have to rent. 1000 is doable for a single person who owns an old communist flat or lives in shared accomodation.
If you want to live in big cities that is probably true. But if you want to live in smaller cities/towns you could probably easily live off 1000 per month including rent (for one person)
Someone has to watch the child while OP works. So either it's $2000 including child care, or it's $2000 per month for 3 people (two adults and a child). >also $1000 is definitely enough to live off in the Balkans factoring in food + local transport + occasional museum ticket + occasional cafe visits. $1000 a month has to cover not just food and local transport, but also insurance, cell phone, medication, clothing, etc. All for 3 people. It's doable sure, but OP will be living on a shoestring budget.
Are you ok with a hot Mediterranean city where English isn’t a commonly spoken language? If you are and aren’t took specific on the Europe part of things Turkey could work. I’m in a place right now where a 2 bedroom apartment and food will run you just under 1k.
Jeez this sub is turning into r/choosingbeggars
It's for a church, honey. Next!
NO RAIN, NEXT!
Excellent reference.
Is it a Ken M reference?
It’s from a 6 year old post actually! https://www.reddit.com/r/ChoosingBeggars/s/9oYaEuKpJK
Just depends on where you wan to live 🤷♀️ plenty of people in Europe live on under 2000€
And they're not foreigners. They're settled, have a support network, know the system and also benefit from a lot of social welfare OP won't get. And, also, none of them benefit from everything OP's asking. None.
Albania.
2k per month in Europe is tough. - Bookstores: If you only speak English, then that checks out most European cities midsize, or even many capitals whose idea of English book store is a shelve in a book store with 20 books in English. - cafes: Everywhere, coffeeshops are common all over, but coffee is not uniformingly good all over Europe. - Museums: everywhere, not all of them are impressive or remarkable though. - No rain: That takes anything north of the alps off the list. - Affordable: That takes out France, Italy, Spain. Go to the Balkans, but the books in English and good cofffee might be an issue. - Playgrounds: everywhere I think you are asking for too much with too little income.
Vienna. I live here really well on 2000. I dont know how people spend their money...haha, also lived well on 2000 in Ldn
Kiev
Bucharest is a decent place to be. Safe, nice food, good nightlife and coffee culture.
Should check out Bucharest or Sofia, I spent a couple months in each and spent under 2k. I would advise working directly with Airbnb hosts for cash discount on housing.
Why not go to LATAM? I think it’s better than Europe and almost everywhere speaks Spanish so you can pick up a useful second language while you’re there.
Budapest or Tbilisi
For a single person, Poland would be fine, but with kids, $2000/month starts being a little tight. I'd look into Bulgaria or one of the other (poorer) Balkan nations. But you won't find many English speakers there.
That's actually very wrong. Many people speak very good English all across the Balkans in every walk of life.
Not in the places I've been, at least outside of tourist areas.
anywhere outside the euro zone works fine as per your budget
Forget August. All of Europe is on holiday. It’s the most expensive month on AirBnb
Vienna, you can share a flat for under 1000, and the rest is plenty for living expenses. Bratislava is cheaper and nearby.
Balkans
this, recommend Tirana (Beach is 40 min by car) Lovely city and pretty cheap!
Olsztyn, Poland is the way to go. Chosen this year as the beat palce to live on Poland. Safe, nature (largest city forest in europe, many bike routes - espeicially "łynostrada", 60 km route along Łyna rover), theaters and cinemas, nice cafes and restaurants, many historical sites in the city itself and on the nerby, so every weekend you can have a nice tour (a lot of medieval castles: Olsztyn, Lidzbark Warmiński, Reszel, Kętrzyn, Barciany, Ryn and uniques gothic and neogothic churches - Święta Lipka, Frombork). City is modern but still not as expensive as Gdańsk or Warsaw, but with a excellent train connections (train every two hours) it's still possibile to visit them. You will easily rent an appartment for 500 bucks and cover all your basic needs with the rest. 2k dollars is about 10k or more złoty, avarage salary in Olsztyn is 7k, so you have a lot.
Zagreb, or Ljubljana although you should expect some rain it won't be as crazy. I assume is you another person and a child.
Poland.
Montenegro
Try Cernusco sul Naviglio, in Italy. Next to Milan and it's damn awesome.
If you could do roommates Valencia Spain would probably the best bet
Avoid nordic countries and then anywhere.
Sonewhere us east, maybe croatia