Welcoming suggestions about outdoorsy, old-school suburban towns (Chicago, Naperville: sales, apartment complexes)

[Chancelynn2002]

Hello, everyone! I am planning on moving to Chicago from the South Bend, IN area probably this coming spring.

My husband and I are looking for a woodsy, old-school-feel town that has a good feel to it - you know, ice cream parlors and restaurants on Main Street, maybe a barber shop and pet store. A lot of parks and forest preserve, preferably someplace very dog-friendly. A place with some scene, like good Irish pubs and places for jazz and punk, too.

I don't know if this place exists, but if it does, sign me up!

Also, my husband is a musician, so I suppose we'd need decent access to the city for venues and whatnot; probably an hour to downtown, I think, is what we've got in mind.

We don't make a lot of money at all - probably we're in the poverty level, if I were to sit down and figure it out. I can easily check towns at Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed for demographic information including cost of living, but I'd like some REAL feedback concerning average apartment and practice space rentals, transportation, grocery bills, anything that would be of any help to us.

Thanks, everyone!

[gardener34]

I would suggest the St. Charles area. It is a little far from downtown, but if you go in off hours as a musician might be likely to do, it isn't bad if you can avoid rush hours. Prices for housing around here are really varied, you can get a house for $200K or 2 million or somewhere in between.
You are on the river which means canoing and fishing, lots of excellent Kane county forest preserve. And bars (where musicians play) line main street. And the shopping is good if you go to Geneva, IL which is next door. McNally's is the irish pub on north avenue.
There are houses to rent although some of the apartment complexes here you may want to choose carefully as some have "problems".

Although - if you can forego the "woodsy" thing - I believe that forest park IL (next to oak park) has a cool downtown area now and is cheaper than the city and oakpark and close to it with the el and train available to you. Rents are likely to be lower there. If anyone knows more about forest park you might inquire about that town.

[Steve-o]

St. Charles or Wheaton would be good spots, same for Naperville.

I have a link on here showing pics of several towns, you should check it out. A picture is worth a thousand words they say.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/chica...6k-beware.html

[Chancelynn2002]

"I would suggest the St. Charles area."
"I believe that forest park IL (next to oak park) has a cool downtown area now and is cheaper than the city and oakpark and close to it with the el and train available to you."


Thank you! I have checked various threads on this site and I see quite a few people badmouthing St. Charles, but I wonder if it is just contingent on people's own ideal of quality of life.

For more information and thus more suggestions, I currently reside in a studio apartment, only $365 a month not including electricity. I live in the more "ghetto" part of town, plenty of trashier (or maybe just uneducated?) people who won't buy themselves real food or anything more than sweatpants, but spend their checks on plasma TVs, cell phones, and rims for their late 80's cars.

I live very frugally, but it's more on the idea that I don't need anything in life but the clothes on my back, some food now and then, and the love of my husband. It is a very freeing way to live, but hardly anyone will agree with us that it's the "proper" way to live, parents and friends included. But then again, backpacking for 6 weeks around Europe will open your eyes like that.

I say all this because the everyday necessities of life - electricity to keep me warm this winter, transportation to my job, and real food on which I will thrive and not merely survive, are important to me and is what I work and get paid for. Everything else is extraneous and weighs me down, so that is how we live comfortably off of, give or take, $16,500 a year.

Sorry for the little rant here, but thanks in advance to everyone willing to give me some insight!

I am open to pretty much any suggestion, no matter how "ghetto" or "rich" a place may seem to someone. I plan on making money closer to what my skills are worth when I move, but I don't plan on making more than $25,000 a year, probably between the two of us, so I would like an area closer to what I'm used to now.

Plus, I'm not at all looking at buying a house - I couldn't afford it, and I like the freedom of traveling around, so house payments are not for me.

Here's my living situation now, as best I can figure it:

+ 6% sales tax
+ $365 rental for studio (but I know you can't get those rental prices around Chicago)
+ $30-40 weekly for gas for our car, but we don't live in a pedestrian-friendly area; our car is our lifeline
+ $50-90 about every 12 days for groceries, maybe $40 a week eating out

Again, thank you to everyone with your suggestions; I truly appreciate it!

[sbd78]

Have you ever considered the city itself? There are neighborhoods in the city full of people with views similar to yourself. Wicker Park and Ukranian Village comes to mind. And the city will provide you with the most music venues for your husband, you will find places with all different types of music. There are several dog parks scattered throughout the city, and lots of people have dogs in the city. A lot of the burbs might be a little "soccer mom" for lack of a better term, for you.

[treeg26]

I agree with the St. Charles, Geneva area. Add Batavia to that. There are some more affordable areas in Batavia (next town South of Geneva).
I don't agree with the Naperville suggestion. It has kind of lost that "old town feel" it used to have, in my opinion. Of course most places are!!!
There are probably apartments/condo's that would be affordable in the St. Charles/Geneva/Batavia area. The river and forest preserves are BEAUTIFUL. Lots of bars and places for a band to play.

[gardener34]

All I know is you are going to go into shock once you see the prices here in Chicagoland. Everything here is way more expensive, gas, taxes, esp. than what you are used to in Indiana. Good luck!

I like St. Charles, just don't like living in an unincorporated area like we do... too many variables and issues we've had to deal with that are "legislated" when you live in a town. Stay in town St. Charles, if you do look into this area.

Most rents around I believe are in the $800-$1000 per month range for an apartment. City I can't say... but you might be better off in the city. There is that lakefront that is REALLY nice. Maybe you can post in the "chicago" forum.

[Windy City John]

come to glen ellyn

[HOWELL_STREET]

Dear Friend:

As the above threads have suggested, there are many towns that would fit your requirements. And a lot of them are along the METRA Union Pacific "West Line" railroad system. Incidentally, that railroad system parallels route IL - 38 (however, sometimes separated by about 1/2 mile in distance) for many miles.

So it depends upon how much you want to be isolated and if your music vocation is your major bread and butter maker. Most musicians do the music part as a part time job. Anyway....

A 'sleeper' town is La Fox, Illinois. It is a beautiful little town that has at least one new subdivision - - and is quite close to Geneva, Illinois.

I suppose that driving distance is about seven miles one way. So, if your residence is in La Fox, then your entertainment requirements could be in Geneva. La Fox also has a railroad station on the Metra Union Pacific line.

Carter Glass

[jessiegirl_98]

I think that people are giving good suggestions in theory, but aren't listening to her price range and that she is close to the poverty level and living off around $17K a year. Chicago itself, as many of the West Burbs that were suggested (Wheaton, Naperville) are way to expensive. How much are you allowing for rent upon the move?