Hi, My name is Andy Hough and I’m happy to post that my blog Tight Fisted Miser is now a member of the Yakezie Network. It has taken a while, some of you might remember that I took part in the Yakezie Challenge way back during the Alpha Class when there was no Yakezie forums but just an email list. Many of my fellow Yakezie have assumed that I was already a Yakezie member.

My journey to becoming a Yakezie member took longer than most and I’ll share the story of that journey with you.

About Tight Fisted Miser

I started my first blog way back in December 2005. It was somewhat of a niche blog focusing on bank bonuses and that blog is still going strong today. Although I liked writing that blog the niche was limiting and I wanted to write on a much broader range of personal finance topics. There were two main things that I frequently read on personal finance blogs that I wanted to address. The first was that some bloggers seemed to assume that all their readers were making a good income or could do so and if a reader had financial problems it was due to spending too much. The second was reading comments and posts from people making the same amount of money as me or more complaining they couldn’t survive on so little.  Thus, Tight Fisted Miser was born in January 2007.

The idea was to share how to live well on very little.  One of the things people seem to like about my blog is that I share my monthly living expenses and income.  When I first started blogging my monthly expenses were routinely under $1000 but my income was usually under $1000 too.  Since then a lot has changed.  Most notably I finished law school and got married.  My expenses and income are quite a bit higher but I like to think I’m still true to my frugal roots.

Enter the Yakezie

Back in 2010 I had been blogging for a few years and making a decent side income from my blogs but the growth of my blogs had plateaued.  When I read about the Yakezie Challenge it sounded interesting and I was a late joiner to the first Yakezie Challenge.  At the end of the Challenge I had gotten my Alexa below 200,000 and gained a few readers but I didn’t see any point to joining the Yakezie as a permanent member.  The forums hadn’t been established yet and being short-sighted I didn’t realize what a great resource the Yakezie could be.

Once the forums were established I would pop in and read them from time to time.  Eventually I started leaving a few comments and visiting more often and I made some connections that allowed my blog to really take off.   Since the Yakezie had helped me so much, and I like to think I have helped some of the Yakezie too, I knew it was time to officially become a member.  I only wish I had been quicker to realize I should become a member.

The Future

I’m not sure what the future will bring.  I have been a full-time blogger for almost a year now which had been a dream of mine when I first started blogging but it actually came true more from serendipity than a plan.  I’m now thinking of scaling back the blogging and getting a job since I’m getting a little bored with blogging all the time.  Perhaps a job will make the blogging look better.  It is nice to have the option of getting a job or not and we will see what the future brings.