Here's a list of WordPress plugins that you'll want to install for most websites. (Some you may not activate until they need them.)
For Categories and Posts
Category Order
easily reorder your categories the way you want via drag and drop
postMash Filtered
to set the order Posts appear in the website
Just One Category
filters Posts that belong to child Categories to keep them from also appearing on the parent Category archive page
For Pages
pageMash
great tool to rearrange your pages
For your Sidebar
RYO Member Access Widget
for a pleasant login - logout control
RYO Folding Category List
pleasant Category list in the sidebar, hides Categories not in the current Category
RYO Folding Page List
pleasant Page list in the sidebar, hides Pages that don't match the current topic
General Plugins
RYO Category Visibility
for convenient control over which categories show
