Doesn't the browser create $HOME/Downloads/ if it's set to save to $HOME/Downloads/ ? You might have to download something to create it though.

I just use the default. But I tend to move what I get immediately after download. I tend not to use the "standards" and opt for a simpler life with ./linux/ ./projects/ ./scripts/. Where linux has all the sources, drivers, versions of flash, versions of java, git things, and whatever else I need to keep my system fully supported and my router up to date. And scripts has a few bash scripts to remember all those complex parameters for me. Plus a few processes that I wanted to make a one liner / script. Pretty much everything else gets shoved in projects. Mostly scripts follows me to a fresh install and linux and projects starts clean, except for the few regulars that I am actively using. I also tend to use multiple users, and the browser user only has Downloads for the most part. On a fresh install I just create the user, change groups, set up the basic .asoundrc type things. Only on the first created (one who starts X) user do I have all the fluff.