If we pick two items from a set $M$ where $|M|\geq 2$, how many subsets can be made using the first, second or both items? My task is this:
Suppose $M$ is a set s.t. $|M|\geq 2$. If we pick two items from $M$, how many subsets can be made using either the first, second or both items?
This is a combinatorial problem, but since I no close to nothing about it, I'd like someone to explain the approach. 
My work so far: 
I wrote $M=\{x_1,x_2,\ldots\}$ and wrote it out for $|M|=2,\dots,5$ and found that $\#$ subsets were 3,6,12 and 24 respectively. From this I got a hunch that the answer could be $3\cdot 2^{|M|-2}$?  

You empirically obtained the correct answer. To show it, note that, from the remaining $N-2$ items, we can form $\binom {N-2}{0} $ subsets containing zero elements, $\binom {N-2}{1} $ subsets containing one element, $\binom {N-2}{2} $ subsets containing two elements, and so on. This leads to
 $$\sum_{k=0}^{N-2} \binom{N-2}{k}=2^{N-2} $$
total subsets. Multiplying this to the $3$ possible initial choices (first item, second item, or both), you get the result.
