As the editor in chief of MAKE, a technology project magazine. I'm an advocate of DIY (do-it-yourself). In fact, for the last year-and-a-half I've been writing a book about my participation in the DIY movement. I've built a chicken coop, raised chickens, started beekeeping, tricked out my espresso maker, carved wooden spoons, built cigar box guitars, and conducted other rewarding DIY activities.

But the one project I always wanted to tackle but failed at time and again is organizing our house. For the last year or so, I've been donating unwanted clothes, selling books, throwing away broken stuff and storing our possessions in bins and boxes. I've made a little headway, but at the rate I was going, I'd be in my dottage by the time I had things the way I wanted them. My wife Carla finally intervened by hiring a professional organizer to help get the job done.

I was resistant at first, because I didn't think anyone would be able to organize my office, which is a jumble of computer peripherals, cables, art supplies, musical equipment, tools, electronic components, comic books, CDs, DVDs, books, paperwork, and thousands of other items. I sort of know where everything is, and I was afraid an organizer would simply reclutter my clutter, making things harder to find. But I finally gave in, allowing the organizer to come over and do her thing while I was away on business for a few days.

While I was away, Carla reported that the organizer, named Jen, was making great progress. She had rearranged the furniture, had placed all the office supplies together and had made a bunch of piles of related stuff for me to go over with her when I returned. She had also instructed Carla to order some shelving units for the garage.

When I got back I was pleasantly surprised by how much Jen had accomplished. Things that had been floating around the house were now put away next to related things. The closets no longer had multi-layered piles of junk on the floors and shelves. Jen explained that things should be stored in a way that made it easy to find them when you needed them later. No storing things in shoeboxes (clear bins were better) and no hiding things behind other things. It was important to be able to see everything you owned when you opened a door or drawer. Armoires with shelves that were all visible were better than chests with lots of small drawers that required lots of opening and closing to find what you wanted.

After the tour of our home, Jen helped me decide what to do with the piles of stuff in my office. She was merciless and efficient, which inspired me to be the same. I thought I had gotten rid of all the stuff I no longer wanted, but Jen helped me dispose of three large boxes of junk I would never use or care about.

We still aren't finished with Jen, but she is in such demand we have to wait a week for her to return and work more of her magic. In the meantime, I'm repeating my new mantra: "a place for everything and everything in its place."

Mark Frauenfelder – Editor-in-chief of MAKE magazine and the founder of the popular Boing Boing weblog, Mark was an editor at Wired from 1993-1998 and is the founding editor of Wired Online.