#Konmari – and how I follow my favourite blogs

So I’ve finished the book that has been on everyone’s lips for months now. I’m really pleased about that because I really believe in actually reading something before you spout off whatever your opinion is.

That said, I’m going to do exactly that for a series of blog posts starting on Monday, so get ready 🙂

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But first, a question I had from Jacqueline on the Organising Queen Facebook page:

How do you follow the blogs you read? Do you do that from Facebook?

The answer is a big NO! I very rarely go into Facebook. A colleague was really shocked when I said that but I told him I set it up so that I look busier on there than I actually am.

I do post on Instagram daily and for some posts (generally not more than one per day for each of my Instagram feeds), I select the option in Instagram to automatically post it to Facebook. There are two reasons for this:

(1) I don’t want to become that annoying Facebook user who tells you everything about his/ her life.

(2) Since I mainly post photos, Instagram people are used to that, and want that. So I figure an Instagram user’s tolerance for photos is higher than a Facebook user, provided (this is key) it’s not 3 – 5 pics in a row of the exact same pose.

( I reply to Facebook messages from my email)

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So how do I read my blogs now that Google Reader is no more?

I use Feedly.

I actually have two Feedly accounts – one for personal use, and one I read from work while eating my lunch (business-y, productivity blogs). That’s been feeling a little too much (after I returned from 8 days away and found 140 unread items) so I’m slowly removing blogs from the work one, and then I finished reading the book, and now I’m removing blogs from both Feedly accounts.

It’s quite simple: I ask myself the question, “does subscribing to this blog spark joy?” and if it’s yes, it stays. If it’s no, I remove the subscription.

If it’s a maybe, I may leave it for now but I’m noticing my feelings carefully. If I open my Feedly in a week’s time and I’m still not experiencing joy, out it goes.

There are some blogs where I like some of the posts, not all. Those I keep but I sort by blog title and simply mark as read the posts I don’t enjoy. E.g. I used to follow a TON of wedding photography blogs because a lot of them are very educational about business. Now I hide the actual weddings they cover and just read the business-y posts.

Simple but extremely effective.

(some might say brutal)

You have my full encouragement to do the same with this blog if it doesn’t spark joy for you.

Guys, life is too short. Let’s live with intention.

 

The best way to keep from overwhelm with your Google Reader

Apologies for those of you who saw the half-finished version of this last night.

When I clicked publish, WP decided to only publish the bit that you saw and when I found out, it was already way past my computer cut-off time 🙂

Here is the complete version, part two.

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I read TONS of blogs.

All sorts of blogs:

  1. mommy
  2. organising & productivity
  3. business
  4. leadership
  5. home and decor
  6. crafty
  7. photography

I used to organise them by their categories.

This system worked okay, mostly, but if I ever skipped a day, immediately there’d be 120 and I’d feel overwhelmed before I even started reading.

And then, I felt like I needed to catch up so it wasn’t relaxing reading but guilt-filled reading.

Enough.

I thought about how I generally process my Google Reader and I read the blogs in this order:

  1. blogs I always comment on
  2. blogs I sometimes comment on
  3. blogs that are pure inspiration and
  4. business/ productivity/ leadership blogs

I took a deep breath and removed all the folders and tags from my subscriptions under Settings.

I then created new folders:

  • always comment
  • sometimes comment
  • inspiration and reading
  • business

I must tell you I love these changes because I’ve saved myself hours a week.

If I only have a few minutes I read the “always comment” folder or if I don’t have time to comment, I’ll choose something from inspiration and reading so I can just…read 🙂

If your subscriptions are all together in your Google Reader, and you’ve never categorised them, do try and let me know if it saves you any time.

Two questions for you:

How do you process your Google Reader?
Do your categories help you get through your reading faster, or not really?

PS Our winner for Clutter Rehab contacted me so third time’s a charm 🙂

PPS Have you signed up for 30 days of lists yet? This weekend is a good chance to get your book ready (don’t get caught up by perfectionism!)

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