My Blogging Setup: What a Lazy Dad Actually Uses

People ask about blogging setups like they’re asking about a professional studio.

What camera do you use? What microphone? What’s your editing software? What’s your content calendar system?

My setup is considerably less glamorous than that.

I run this blog from a laptop that’s at least four years old, usually from my kitchen table after the kids are in bed, with whatever coffee is left in the pot. That’s the honest version.

But there are some tools I actually use and pay for — and a few I tried and dropped — and I figured it was worth writing all of that down. Both for transparency, and because when I was starting out, I wasted money on things I didn’t need.

So here’s the real setup. No padding, no recommendations I don’t actually use.

Hosting: Hostinger

I went with Hostinger for hosting. The main reason was price — for a dad who isn’t sure yet if this blog will ever make money, spending $3-4 a month instead of $15-20 felt like the right call.

Has it been perfect? No. There have been a couple of slow loading moments. But for where I am right now — zero traffic, just building — it does the job fine.

My honest take: start cheap, upgrade later when you actually have traffic that justifies the cost. Don’t pay for premium hosting before you have premium traffic.

Platform: WordPress

WordPress was a pretty easy choice. It runs the majority of the internet, there’s a plugin for everything, and when you run into a problem, someone has already solved it and written about it somewhere.

The learning curve is real though. I spent more time than I want to admit figuring out things that should have been obvious. Page templates, menus, categories — stuff that sounds simple but trips you up when you’re new.

If I were starting completely over, I’d still pick WordPress. But I’d also tell myself to spend one full weekend just learning the dashboard before writing a single post.

Theme: Kadence

Kadence is the free theme I’m using. It’s clean, it’s fast, and it doesn’t get in the way.

I’ll be honest — I’ve had some battles with it. Trying to get custom layouts to look right took longer than it should have. But that’s mostly a me problem, not a Kadence problem. For a free theme, it’s genuinely solid.

What I like most is that it doesn’t bloat the site. Some themes come loaded with features you’ll never use that just slow everything down. Kadence keeps things lean.

SEO: Rank Math

Rank Math is the SEO plugin I installed early on and have kept. It’s free, it gives you a clear checklist for each post, and it handles the technical stuff — sitemaps, meta descriptions, schema — without requiring you to know what any of that actually means at first.

I don’t follow its score obsessively. Early on I was trying to hit 100/100 on every post and ended up over-optimizing to the point where the writing felt robotic. Now I aim for “good enough” and focus more on whether the post is actually worth reading.

Writing: Just Google Docs

I write everything in Google Docs first. Nothing fancy. It saves automatically, I can access it from anywhere, and I can write a draft on my phone during lunch and finish it on the laptop at night.

I’ve tried dedicated writing apps. They’re nice. But I don’t need nice — I need something that works and doesn’t add friction. Google Docs works.

AI Tools: Claude and ChatGPT

I use AI tools as part of my process — I’ll write about this in more detail in a separate post — but I want to be upfront about it here.

I use Claude and ChatGPT primarily for brainstorming, editing, and working through ideas. The actual writing — the opinions, the experiences, the specific details of what I’ve tried — that’s all real and comes from me. AI doesn’t know what it’s like to sit in a dark kitchen at 11pm wondering if this blog will ever go anywhere. I do.

But pretending AI isn’t part of modern blogging would be dishonest, and this blog is supposed to be honest. So there it is.

Analytics: Google Search Console + Site Kit

I have Google Search Console set up through the Site Kit plugin. Right now it shows me a whole lot of nothing, which is expected at this stage. But having it connected means that when traffic eventually starts coming in, I’ll have historical data to look at.

I don’t use Google Analytics yet. For where I am now, Search Console tells me everything I actually need to know — what people are searching for, what’s getting impressions, what’s getting clicks. Analytics is more useful when you have actual user behavior to analyze.

What I Don’t Use (And Why)

A few things I tried and dropped:

Social media scheduling tools. I signed up for one, used it twice, and cancelled. I’m not doing enough social media to justify the cost or the mental overhead right now. Maybe later.

Email marketing. I know, I know. “The money is in the list.” But setting up an email system before I have anything worth saying or any readers to say it to felt backwards. I’ll add this when the blog has found its footing.

Fancy keyword research tools. I looked at Ahrefs and SEMrush. They’re genuinely impressive. They’re also $100+ a month, which is not something I’m spending before this blog makes a single dollar. For now, Google Search Console and common sense are enough.

Total Monthly Cost

Here’s what I’m actually spending to run this blog right now:

Hosting (Hostinger): ~$3-4/month

Domain: ~$1/month (paid annually)

Everything else: $0 (free tools only)

So roughly $4-5 a month total. That’s it. Anyone who tells you that you need to spend hundreds of dollars to start a blog is either selling something or overcomplicated their own setup unnecessarily.

The barrier to entry here is low. What’s harder is showing up consistently and writing things worth reading. That’s the actual work.

What I’m Planning to Add

As the blog grows, there are a few things I’ll add when the time makes sense:

An email list — once I have content worth subscribing to and readers who might actually subscribe.

Better analytics — once there’s real traffic to analyze.

Potentially better hosting — if and when traffic justifies the cost.

But for now, the setup above is everything I need to write, publish, and slowly build this thing. Simple is fine. Simple is actually good when you’re just starting out.

Next up: what it’s actually like trying to do all of this with a full-time job and kids at home — and how I carve out the time without losing my mind or my weekends.