Minecraft wiki entry for Organization, associated text: T is for torches.
C is for cobblestone (or stone if using silk-touch pickaxe).
F is the easiest key to press, so having your sword here is good practice. However, you must change the switch-to-off-hand hotkey.
You can hover over an item stack in a chest or in your inventory and press a hotkey, and that item swaps with the item currently on the hotbar slot you selected. If nothing is on the hotbar slot, that item moves there.
You can hover over an empty square in an inventory and press a hotkey, and the item in that hotbar slot jumps to where your mouse pointer is.