Investing in Hazel rules can make your life so much simpler. The two I appreciate the most are:
1. Automatically clean up my desktop (desktop files are moved to archives if not opened for 2 weeks)
2. Automatically delete old downloads (downloads are deleted after a month)
And I don't know how folks use a Mac without Bartender. I have most toolbar icons hidden by default. A few automatically appear as needed (eg. battery icon shows when below 50% charge). Some are *always* hidden (apps that have toolbar icons that I never use but don't offer an option to disable).