Constant finishing on the bubble, or near it

Playing online poker in single table sit & gos or multitable tournaments, it seems to me that I finished 4th or 5th (usually 4th) on the single table, where the top 3 get paid, or just outside the money on the bigger tournies e.g. the pokerroom Plus 500 last night where I came 42nd out of 400, with the top 40 getting paid, about 80% of the time :mad:

I play what I imagine is quite tight but invariably seem to approach the bubble small stacked and then get blinded out or manage to pick the wrong hand to make a stand e.g. in that Plus 500 tournie I had about 970 left when the blinds went to 300/600 and had just got the button so I could survive two rounds of the table and decided to try and fold my way into the cash.

There was 55 players left at this point and at the hand before the big blind reached me again there was 42 left, I got pocket 9s and went all in, only to be busted by AQ or something. In that time I had folded AQ, KJ and similar hands.

Should I be loosening up or tightening further at that stage considering I'm short stacked? I suppose folding your way into the money is really only an option when you have loads of chips