apple-pie order

A very organized and neat state. Don't worry, we'll find that file—Elaine keeps all the records in apple-pie order. Everything needs to be in apple-pie order before Grandma gets here! I'll get my intern to help us go through all this paperwork—she's very good about putting it in apple-pie order.

apple pie order

Neat, orderly, well organized. Although the exact derivation is unknown, folk etymology (which word detectives fall back on when there's nothing more authoritative) suggests the following: New England housewives were so organized at slicing apples for their pies, laying out the slices inside the crust, and then making sure that the top and bottom crusts were evenly pinched together that their meticulousness gave rise to the phrase.