Jelisa Castrodale

Social distancing hasn’t replaced our need for socializing. “How We Gather Now” is Apartment Therapy’s look at how we’re finding safe new ways to get together in 2020, presented in partnership with Absolut Juice. We’ve heard about sunset cocktails on a city roof; the simple joys of the front porch, and celebrating even in times of crisis.

Whew, I hope you’re sitting down. Of course you’re sitting down, because you’ve just spent the past week settling into your new place, somehow unpacking more boxes than you remember packing, and wondering how you’ve acquired so many novelty coffee mugs. (Garfield? Really?) But now that you’ve stacked what seems like two tons of cardboard on top of the recycle bins, what else do you need to do? Not as much as you think.

On "9JKL," Josh Roberts moves into an apartment next to his parents. You don't have to...

You've heard about these capsule wardrobe things and how they help us simplify. Here's how you start.

I’d ask for a show of hands to see how many of us have at least attempted the Marie Kondo method of organizing our homes, but at this point, half of us are still holding high school tennis T-shirts and waiting for them to spark a feeling of joy. There is something kind of exhilarating about decluttering and downsizing and even fussing over the way we fold our socks, but emptying out our closets and drawers forces us to ask a big question: What do we do with this stuff now?