Looking for a searchable feed reader (more similar to Google Reader)? Read on ...

Completely irrelevant picture of Lucy, but she's cute and posts need pictures

I was with the majority who sadly mourned the passing of Google Reader.

Unfortunately, my favorite thing about Google Reader was that it had a search option, to search through the posts on my reader and I that option wasn't available on Feedly or any other similar program that I could find.

I used the search feature to get my shopping organized. When I was going to CVS I'd search through all the money saving blogs I follow for the best CVS deals, which coupons go with what sale, what's free this week and how to get it, etc. Same for Publix, Target, and anywhere else I was going or anything else I was looking for - this week we ran out of toothpaste, with Google Reader I'd have searched toothpaste, found the best deal, and headed out to buy it. If I were going to a store I never go to I'd run a search on my Google Reader for it and see if anything came up. That was my #1 money saving tool. Seriously. When Google Reader went bye-bye I was at a loss. I couldn't find a good alternative to the system I was using. Yes, I could google the store and deals and see what came up, but I'd be getting deals that weren't all current. Yes, I could go to just following one blog for this information, but I wouldn't be getting all the deals. Being a creature of habit, I was a bit lost. Beyond that, I'd use it to find a quilt or craft that caught my eye. I couldn't always remember exactly what it was that I liked but I'd remember enough key words to search and find it. Very helpful.

I tried a few readers and finally settled on Feedly, with no search feature. The layout was different which initially threw me for a loop, but now I've grown to like that part of it, but no search feature. The other day I noticed a new button on Feedly, a "Search Articles" option. It might be a slight exaggeration to say I did a cartwheel, but maybe in my mind I did one. I searched for "toothpaste" and one article came up, along with an option to upgrade to more services for $5 a month or $45 a year. The reality is that I'd probably save $45 a year by being able to search the way I used to BUT I didn't know how well this upgraded program would work for me so I was hesitant and did some google searching on it (plus I hate spending money if I can avoid doing so).

After reading plenty of articles I started reading the comments below the articles. Often, that's where you find the users of the products and what they really think of it, sometimes it's a better place to go than the actual articles themselves. And often the comments lead into discussions of other similar products.

my homepage

Somewhere, in one of those comments, someone mentioned InoReader, and that it has a FREE search feature. I'd never heard of it before, but I checked it out. Sure enough, it has a search feature and it's free. Inoreader looks much more like Google Reader did and functions similarly. And it does search through the posts of the blogs I follow easily. It's slow; it loads slowly and it's a bit slow to refresh but I only check in once every day or two so that's fine with me. So far I've been thrilled with it and it's functionality (lots of mental cartwheels).

searching for toothpaste

I'm not sure if InoReader is new to the market, or just a quiet addition, but it's worth checking out if you haven't found a Google Reader replacement that meets all your needs yet.

**No, this is not a review ... I was just too excited to have found this to not share it.

Have you found a great way to keep up on blogs and news feeds?