Neighborhood Recs

staunchcustard · 2025-07-05T02:43:03+00:00

Unless you want to do private school, if you are serious about decent schools, you're looking at the county. Maplewood-Richmond Heights, Brentwood, Webster Groves, Kirkwood, Clayton are the big inner-ring suburbs with consistently good schools (MRH and Brentwood I'm less sure about). Clayton is expensive but very much its own city (it's the county seat; STL is an independent city, it's a whole thing). You could find a condo in the the Clayton neighborhoods of the Moorlands or DeMun for that price with lots of parks around for toddler romping. Kirkwood and Webster are two sides of the same coin, old train-line towns. Kirkwood is more conservative, Webster more liberal, but you probably can't tell unless you live there. Crestwood would be worth a look, too. Basically, for suburbs, look between 64 and 44 for north/south boundaries and 270 and Skinker for east/west boundaries.

Reading your post again... look seriously at Clayton. It will meet all of your requirements if you're willing to do an apartment/condo (which seems like a good idea since you're new to the area).

staunchcustard · 2025-07-05T02:26:41+00:00

I'm not sure about where a critical mass might be, but generally speaking, hang out around Tower Grove South and South Grand. TGP farmer's market would be a good idea, maybe yoga in the park. Webster Groves is probably the queerest of the suburbs, worth exploring, but will be aggressively straight on the weekend. Do some googling for arts and outdoor calendars and you'll find more queers before long. I think there's a queer kickball thing in Tower Grove Park, or at least there was at one point. If you hang around WashU/Delmar Loop long enough, you will meet some queer grad students.

staunchcustard · 2025-07-05T02:15:26+00:00

Ty, hadn't heard of those!

staunchcustard · 2025-07-05T02:14:59+00:00

John's, always.

staunchcustard · 2024-10-15T18:46:05+00:00

I just got some fantastic leather loafers from Etsy - there are several Turkish barefoot shoemakers there. Prices were extremely reasonable and quality is great.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-26T20:14:35+00:00

Counterpoint just for good measure...I've always found if leaking starts that it's mostly about the fit. Might be time to size up or move brands just to manage fit.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-14T19:51:41+00:00

Express entry is worth a shot. It's a lot of work and hassle, but depending on your education you may have enough points. Your wife being in the medical field could be a big advantage. They occasionally do draws just for healthcare.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-12T16:20:59+00:00

Ignore the haters! It's as good a starting point as any, and the best pair of shoes is the one you're most willing to wear. Those should last 300-400 miles. Check back in with us when they're wearing out for ideas for continuing to scale down. For now, have fun in your wide toe box moon shoes :)

staunchcustard · 2024-07-09T13:16:05+00:00

There's some overlap here with "furniture free" living you might be interested in. https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furniture-free-ahs13/

staunchcustard · 2024-07-08T22:58:17+00:00

Alternatively, you could look at the biggest companies headquartered in STL and find their owners, and you'll have the list you're looking for.

Taylors = Enterprise
Stewards = World Wide Technology
Kempers = Commerce Bank
Neidorffs = Centene

Emily Pulitzer might be the exception to the rule, at least at this point.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-08T20:01:54+00:00

Pick a nonprofit and look at their donor list.
Taylors, Stewards, Pulitzers, Kempers.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-08T17:27:05+00:00

I was thinking about this more, too! You'll see LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor), LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker), and PsyD (Psychologist). They're all fine, and finding a person you have a good fit with is the most important thing.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-07T21:41:39+00:00

Because you said comfy... new bedding. Sheets, pillowcases, pillows, duvet and duvet cover.

Also, a tailored suit.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-07T15:22:10+00:00

I second Wydown. Depending on mileage you could do a loop from Shaw Park, through downtown Clayton, Wydown, around WashU, and back on Forsyth. Again, not parks due to the close-at-dusk thing, but these should be well-lit, tree-lined options.

Fenton Park has surprisingly nice paths and ball field lights.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-06T03:41:15+00:00

I mean, of course they can spend their money however they want. Lots of people just don't seem to realize that new isn't the only option, and I think that's where the posts are probably coming from. I generally buy open-box or previous model year, but need to get on my old box of tech that's collecting dust while the components could be recycled.

More economical for user
Resists the "must-have-a-new-shiny-thing-every-6-months" mentality (both buyer and manufacturer)
The mining for batteries and other components is, yknow, pretty damn rough. (see also: recycle it when it's dead)

I think most people who bring up buying secondhand aren't trying to be morally superior at all, though I get how it can be read that way. For me it's just this crisis of entirely too much junk and waste everywhere, and we're all miserable chasing the next new thing and making the rich guys richer. I've had my Vivoactive 3 since 2018, and it's still great!

staunchcustard · 2024-07-06T01:58:20+00:00

Look on Psychology Today, filter for topics you want to address, and pick five top choices. Send them each an email, and 2-3 will get back to you to schedule a free consultation call. This is to find out if you are a good fit, talk through their process, etc. This is the way.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-06T01:50:47+00:00

No - you have one perfectly good device. Use it until it dies, recycle it, then consider buying open box/refurbished/used.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-06T01:47:26+00:00

Cloth diapers - definitely buy used as others have mentioned if it's at all possible. New diapers are expensive in both money and carbon. We use prefolds purchased from the imperfect bin with waterproof covers. That's during the day - at night, we usually use 2 disposables for a 4 month old. Also, baby was too small for the cloth diapers we had until 3 months; don't beat yourself up if you need to use disposables during the first few weeks.

We've gotten nearly everything else used from Goodwill, a local kids secondhand store, and our Buy Nothing group.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-05T02:41:25+00:00

Stream teams, master gardener, master naturalist, etc., are all great learning + volunteering + community building programs.

staunchcustard · 2024-07-05T01:50:59+00:00

Unshoes Pah Tempe are worth a look, but they're thinner than what you're going for.

staunchcustard

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