Frugal Bagel's Anniversary

This blog is now 1 year old. I wrote the first post on October 22, 2015. The idea? "I read so many personal finance blogs, why don't I have one of my own?"

I'm pleased to report that whim has kept me going for a year, with a fairly regular 2-3 times/week update schedule of posts ranging from 1 page to 5 or 6 pages long. Over the course of the year, that amounted to 138 posts (not including this one). Assuming approximately 3 hours per post (between writing, editing, and sometimes formatting), that adds up to 414 hours of Labor Of Love!

Some of my favorite posts:

• I'm pleased that my most-viewed post is the "Love and Wear" Wardrobe Exercise since I think it's a really simple and helpful way to get control of your wardrobe!
• My most-linked-to post (by me) is Simplify Your Wardrobe By Discovering Your Color Palette. I talk about colors a LOT.
• Everything you need to know about 401(k)s in one handy place. Boom.
• In Find A Bra That Fits Without Breaking the Bank, I poured out my extensive, hard-won knowledge of bra fitting and shopping.
• I expected Hobby Profile: Houseplants to be short because what do I really know about houseplants? It turns out, a lot!
• How Do You Attract Woman Software Developers? turned into a goddamn manifesto.
• I wrote Money Lessons from Bagels while I was sick, and it shows! But at least it's on-brand.
• The unfortunate result of going to sleep after reading Rebecca and playing Pokemon Go has a similar fever-dream quality but I DON'T CARE, I LOVE IT

BTW, I may as well admit to you that, when I started this blog, in the back of my mind, part of me thought, "Maybe a blog will help me establish a passive income stream!" Ha! Ha! I have made $3.49 in this whole year (which so far is imaginary money anyway since I need to get to $10 before Google will cut me a check). I think that in order to make a blog work out financially, you need to be a much better self-promoter; get lucky enough to go viral; and/or have started in 2004.

Still, I enjoy having a place to sound off on my favorite topics (money, clothes, and Pokemon), so I plan to keep going!

What now? Will my updates become less frequent? Will they become MORE frequent, but shorter and dumber? Will they STAY THE SAME?? You'll just have to stay tuned.

(I'm not holding out on you, I really don't know. We'll find out... together.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EVERYONE! !!!