According to the Los Angeles Times, Monday was National Clean Off Your Desk Day. I personally didn’t know about it, the memo was buried under the load of paper on my desk. Actually, I’ve been working really hard to clear off my desk; but right now is a very busy time and folks keep adding to the piles.
National Clean Off Your Desk Day, if you couldn’t figure it out, is an example of a retail holiday. There are loads of them out there. For example, this is National Hot Tea month as well. Each is designed to sell you something, just like Mothers Day and Valentines Day and… hmmm, I don’t think there isn’t a holiday in America that isn’t designed to sell you something.
So what does National Clean Off Your Desk Day sell? The answer can be found in the month, for it is also National Get Organized Month, sponsored by the National Association of Professional Organizers. NAPO wants you to buy their services, and the stores that sell organizing supplies want to sell you more stuff to bring into your house to add to the clutter already there help organize the clutter already there. Why do days such as this appear in the newspaper? There are column-inches to fill, and articles like this are better than another Brittney Spears story.
This is also big business. Professional organizers typically charge $100 to $200 an hour to analyze your work space, create systems to optimize your workflow and teach you how to use and maintain them. That’s not including the cost of supplies. Storage boxes don’t come cheap.
And speaking about specially-designated time periods, please remember that this is National Delurking Week. No, I’m not trying to sell you anything. You don’t need to buy a single thing to delurk; there is no cost involved. If you’re reading this blog, I encourage you to comment. Remember, if you don’t leave a comment, you’re letting the organizers win.
