Spring Cleaning Your Google Reader

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Apr 8, 2011 | View Comments

This post is the last in the Spring Cleaning Week series, and was supposed to post yesterday.  Unfortunately, I scheduled it incorrectly.  So, today I am sharing the last part of the series with you!

In the past, I’ve talked about how I use Google Reader to keep up with the blogs I read.  There is no way I could ever keep up with all of the, around 80, if I didn’t have Google Reader to put them all together in one spot.  Like anything else, however, Google Reader can get cluttered up and needs a good Spring Cleaning.  A few weeks back, I learned of a really easy and effective way to clean my Google Reader, and I wanted to share it with you today.

If you look at the left sidebar on your Google Reader homepage, you’ll see the tag “Trends.”  I had never clicked on this tag before, and I had no idea what a powerful tool I was missing.  When you click on the “Trends” tag, a screen comes up that details all of the trends that Google Reader has noticed in what you are reading or clicking.  this is really interesting to see what blogs you are really reading, and what ones have items you are clicking on.  You can click up to the Top 40 blogs you are reading, and easily see what ones you aren’t reading at all.

Also included on the Trends screen, are you Subscription Trends.  This tells you which blogs are frequently updated, which blogs are recently inactive, and which blogs have the least followers.  When I am Spring Cleaning my Google Reader, I usually check through the blogs that are recently inactive and see if there is any that I need to unsubscribe from.  If I find one that I do want to unsubscribe from, all I have to do is click on the small trash can on the right of the blog name, and it will unsubscribe from that blog.  It’s easy.  I don’t often unsubscribe from a blog, but if it’s been a long time since they last posted, I usually unsubscribe – it’s part of that if you don’t need it, let it go mentality.

Do you use Google Reader?  Is Spring Cleaning your Google Reader something you think you’ll need to do?

Spring Cleaning Your Email Subscriptions

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Apr 6, 2011 | View Comments

I am a stickler for keeping my email inbox clean.  I’ve written many times about how I keep my inbox empty, and how I organize my email.  Recently, I updated how I was organizing my email and keeping them tagged, but that’s for another post.  Today I want to talk about something that I am always fighting with in my inbox – email subscriptions.  I’m not going to lie…I subscribe to a lot of email lists.  Whether it’s emails with coupons, or designer newsletters, or marketing newsletters…there’s a ton of them that work their way through my inbox each day.  It can get overwhelming.  Here are a few tips I have for cleaning up your email subscriptions.

• If you are consistently just deleting it, do yourself a favor and unsubscribe from the newsletter.  If you’re not reading it, it’s just extra noise that clutters up your inbox.
• Set up a folder for them, and filter them directly to the folder.  In gmail, you can set up filters that will automatically label the emails and send them right to the appropriate folder.  By doing this, the emails are bypassing the inbox and you can go in and read them when you have a few minutes.
• See if you can change your subscription options.  There was one newsletter that I was getting everyday, and it was just overwhelming.  I took a minute, and went in and changed it to a weekly email, and I really haven’t lost anything.
• If they do make it to your inbox, read them immediately, and take any actions that you need to.  I try to do this every time, I quickly read the email and decide what action I need to take.  If I can do it in less than two minutes, it gets done then and there.  If I can’t I add it to my task list, and move on from the email.

Email subscriptions are great ways to stay in touch and find deals and information about the things you like.  What’s key is making sure you keep them from overpowering your email inbox and making you crazy!

Do you subscribe to email newsletters?  How do you keep the clutter down?  Are you subscribed to the Sir Scrapalot Designs Newsletter?

Spring Cleaning Week Starts Tomorrow!

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Apr 3, 2011 | View Comments

Are you ready to Spring Clean your digi life?  Spring Cleaning Week starts tomorrow on the Sir Scrapalot Designs Blog, be sure to check back to learn how to purge your stash, clean up your digi profiles, and weed out your Google Reader.  See you then!

Foo Foo Numbers – Corrected Link

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Mar 22, 2011 | View Comments

It’s come to my attention that the download I offered in my latest newsletter to the Foo Foo Numbers was a bad file.  I’ve corrected the link, and you should be able to download them now.  Click on the preview to download.  Sorry for the confusion!

The Wearing of The Green

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Mar 17, 2011 | View Comments

Getting it All Done Was Killing Me

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Mar 16, 2011 | View Comments

If you are the type of person who has trouble asking for or accepting help, you definitely want to check out my guest post at Simple Scrapper today.  I talk about my struggles with this, and the almost lethal effect it had on my life.  You can check out my openly honest post HERE.