It all started like this…

I read a lot.  Books, magazines, blogs (tons of blogs), newspapers,  white papers (that’s a fancy shmancy name for a multi page article or document), e-books, etc.  I received the Dispatch every day, Business First every week,  had subscriptions to 8 magazines (I did keep one subscription, it’s an important one), received post updates by email on 42 blogs (no, I’m not exaggerating) as well as reading the backs of countless cereal boxes and happy meal bags.

The newspapers cost $410.48 per year.

The magazines cost $185.00 per year.

If you’re still with me, that’s $595.48 per year.

As far as the billion hours claim… that might be a bit of a stretch.  However, I will tell you that most of what is printed (and I subsequently paid for) I didn’t really care about.  And with due respect to our hometown newspaper, it has become not much more than a pamphlet with  several ads that aren’t appealing to me. Sorry. The point is, it takes a bunch of time to page through newspapers and magazines just to find the stuff that is pertinent to me.  And, it costs a lot too.

If I’m being honest, the money saving is great but I would pay for good content.  Writers and publishers need to earn a living just like the rest of us I think.  Good topic for another post, huh? But, anyway, its the time saved and being able to drill down to exactly what I’m interested in that really excites me.

And, being bombarded with dozens of emails every day from blogs I subscribe to wasn’t much better.  Too much noise.  I needed to be able to see through the clutter to get to exactly what I wanted in as quick a time possible. We are all busy.

Introducing Google Reader (no, it’s not new… far from it actually) and RSS feeds.  Visit Feedburner to get your own account and go here to learn more about how RSS and Feeds work to make your life so much easier.

By the way, all of this stuff is free. And mega easy.

So, here’s how you can use this information.  Visit one of your favorite blogs, let’s just say Mashable, which happens to be one of mine.  On the right hand side you’ll see a little orange square with the letters RSS underneath it. Click on it.

Up pops the subscription page. There are several choices.  Click on +Google.

Up pops the Add to Google Page.  Choose Add to Google Reader.

That’s it!  Your are now subscribed to this blog.  You can repeat for virtually any newspaper, blog or magazine out there. Recently it was announced that individual web pages will be available for subscription through RSS feeds. Cool.

Now you control your content.  All in one place.  Quickly scan all of your different feed subscriptions and the headlines (and first part of the article if you choose)  and decide what you want to read.  You can also Star the articles you really like.  You can share articles with others. You can write notes.

It doesn’t get any easier, quicker or more efficient if you’re a reader like me.

One final tip:  If you use an iPhone or Blackberry (I use an iPhone personally) then you can download Feed Apps that bring the power and simplicity of Google Reader right to your mobile phone.  I use an app simply called Feeds and love it.  Everything is well categorized and the user interface is so easy to navigate.

How do you use RSS and Google Reader?  Would love to hear your ideas and suggestions.