Hmm maybe wrapping them in plain brown kraft paper would look a bit neater?

no.

(you have all my sympathy and understanding..since my DH also is prone to that slippery slope..luckily we have garage..)

what are the boxes made of?

Under the bed? Whatever you do have under the bed now will look better on the cabinets than the boxes. :)

Throw them away/send to recycling. It is unsanitary as has been pointed out, and you don't have the space. Do it when he's gone - do not get into a negotiation with him about it--that will agitate and escalate the hoarder's anxiety. Otherwise, you are the enabler of your fiancé's "borderline hoarding". The more you enable, the worse it will get. I know from whereof I speak.

Before you are stuck arguing about every piece of detritus your sweetheart wants to keep, I suggest you buy a home keeping book filled with information about how to keep a clean and sanitary house. Go over it with your intended so that he understands that it is impossible to keep a clean, healthy house with junk everywhere. Dust, mites, mold build up around an overstuffed house- all of those things can lead to allergies and worse. With any luck you can turn the borderline hoarding dysfunction into a borderline OCD one ;-)

Do it in tiny steps whatever you do. Tied and piled neatly in a corner of the kitchen. Then downstairs in the basement or storage room. Then discuss donating them to someone who is moving. That kind of thing.

My sister had a psychotic break when some of her things were thrown out without her permission. She is bipolar as well as a hoarder though. She can now get rid of things as long as they are going to be used again in some capacity. For her the magic words are donate and re purpose.

I'm sorry that you are asking for help with your storage, but some of us want to give you advice about dealing with your fiance. I think there are lots of voices of experience here who believe it's not a storage problem but a relationship problem or a potential one. I don't know if borderline stays that way or always moves on down the spectrum?

And also "my fiance insists" - well, you are 1/2 of the equation/relationship and have just as much a right to "insist" that things be sorted and thinned out to an acceptable level for YOU. Perhaps you could insist the boxes go, with the assurance that you will find appropriate moving boxes on down the line when needed.

I would try push the idea of not storing the cardboard because it attracts roaches/silverfish/bugs etc etc. Living in apartment/attached living everyone has to mindful of things like that otherwise you could end up with a bug infestation. I had a ream of copy paper stored in a drawer and when I went to clean out/organize the drawers there were silverfish all in between the paper...it was so disgusting. Needless to say I did a lot of purging that day and no more useless storage anymore.

"Do it in tiny steps whatever you do. Tied and piled neatly in a corner of the kitchen. Then downstairs in the basement or storage room."

I just want to point out that the OP said that part of the issue is they are moving into an apartment with no storage.

Keeping the boxes in view in the kitchen will increase the attachment the fiancé has to them.

If you want to do small steps, flatten them and store them under the bed out of sight as someone suggested. Then throw away when he's forgotten about them, but as soon as you can due to the insect/mildew potential.

What a small storage unit? Store off-site.

If you do agree, you're lost. Tell him to compromise, you can keep half.

"Tell him to compromise, you can keep half"

Negotiating with a hoarder is impossible because they are irrational. My experience is that a request to compromise creates agitation. Perhaps this person isn't that bad though, so give it a try. I think your best route is to appease and soothe by saying you'll store it all under the bed out of sight. Then throw away when he's forgotten about them, and moved onto other useless things he feels he must keep.

Just so you don't FREAK; where are you located? Here in the northern states we don't have issues with cardboard attracting cockroaches...this is NEWS it is unsanitary to keep them. Collapsing is your only hope for having room. Before DISCUSSING this sort of thing in the future..I would just make them go away--and apologize later if he ever notices. You know what you are marrying--it isn't going to change you need to get ahead of it, and be creative.

My husband has terrible hoarding tendencies. When it comes to the stuff in his spots, he can do what he wants, but as far as the rest of the house goes, not. That is the one area I have learned to put my foot down on and not budge. If you could see my basement you'd understand why but trust me when I say, don't humor him. Find a nice but firm way to tell him nice idea, but you don't need the boxes, they are trash and they are out. We're on year 18, happy wife, happy life.

I've been married must be pushing 40 years by now..to a hoarder. Put your foot DOWN now. Cardboard boxes, geesh. I thought I solved my problem by having hubs put up a big barn type storage shed, set more in the woods behind the house...that was 9 years ago. Today there are 3 back there, and he's recently complained the sheds are full, no room for anything. I told him to get rid of your junk and make room..I tell you he saves cords off of any broken electric gadget, cuts em off and saves em, same with vacume sweepers saves the sweeper as never know if he can use a part off of one. Most recently I noticed 2 big black garbage bags of clothes I gave him to drop off at the thrift store in his shed...why I ask...rags he said..never know when you might need a rag.

Solve this issue now otherwise you will wake up one day and find a row of barn like sheds lining your home...and a collection of small appliances, none of which works. Did I forget to tell you about the 3 thousand strands of Xmas lights all in a tangled mess, he plans to someday un-tangle them could be a few good ones in there....or could be I strangle him w ith them.

Are you on the Nextdoor app? People on our app are constantly looking for and then donating/recycling their moving boxes. Do this when he is not around.

The roach potential would be enough for my DH, that's for sure.

There are always people looking for, and giving away, moving boxes.

And even if you have to buy some new boxes next time, the amount of money you save isn't worth the hassle of storing them in an apartment where space is precious.

He may "insist", but tell him that it's taking up space that is needed for things you will actually use while you are living there.

oh they know all that very well. they just don't like to get rid of stuff. it's not lack of info.

I do think it's easier to handle it now while you are fiancees.

(btw sometimes it's hard to throw away stuff too because garbage cans are kinda..inspected. one needs to wait until the other one will be on a business trip..which should correspond with the garbage day..in short trouble

and boxes are big and obvious even when flattened.

and they rarely forget. lol. I mean borderline hoarders, not boxes)

Talk. you can try and reach some agreement..you keep the best most sturdy ones, say ten of them or whatever your lucky number is, flattened and in a big plastic box under your bed or something. The rest, you donate through Craigslist or Nextdoor or whatever works for you.

Our agreement-the house is like I see fit. All of it. Tidy. I need tidy. Or I can't function. And I'm a person too, you know. Also need my mental health. He wants to store-great..he can store in the garage, but I need to be able to breathe there too. And sometimes he does reluctantly get rid of things. He can even agree such and such should be gone..just takes him ages and it's, like, disproportionally hard.

Just to add that I'm pretty sentimental person myself..still keep all the cards, letters, select kids' drawings..but no, there's a line..what evokes strong emotions in you and seem like it answers your needs.

Decide together where the line should be drawn. Or else it moves until you have no space, and starts to suffocate.

I've seen quite a few homes of hoarders, real hoarders.

Keep it borderline.

Olychik is right..we advise not exactly on what you asked..and I feel bad about that. but what can you do(c)

I will tell you about my situation. We kept some of the good heavy boxes and had them folded down standing against the wall in the back of the dining room which we rarely used then. One day I went to move them out of that location and found that between the boxes there were spots of mold. Luckily just a few small ones but it would have been worse if I hadn't gone to move them. They went straight to the trash. And we proceeded to wash the entire room with bleach water. The only place I saw the mold was on the boxes in the middle but those spores move around. I wasn't taking any chances. And I am so glad those were gone before the house flooded because all the wet cardboard is just a mess to clean up. So just save yourself this kind of mess and insist on getting it out of the house.

I think I would say, then store them in your car!

Start the way you tend to move forward in this relationship. Men tend to see value in just about anything they pay money for. If you can't store in a garage, then dump them. Cardboard will attract mould and roaches. Good luck to you.

(I must agree with Arcy--if you don't have cockroaches, cardboard boxes won't make them magically appear. but if you do, they'll be delighted to hang out in them.)

It's good to keep in mind that there are people we casually call "hoarders" because they hang onto more junk than we do and then there are people with an actual problem with hoarding. We don't know what Apr's dealing with. And it's possible that this isn't a long-term home in which case it makes a lot of sense to hang onto the boxes. Need more details, unless we scared her off! :)

"Saving" really can be dictated by space. This weekend I was helping DD#2 pack her bedroom for life in her first apartment. In her closet I noticed a two ft by two ft pile of small boxes. Every electronic contraption she owns she has the original box for. WHY!?!? She had no GOOD explanation, but she had the room so there they stay. They are not getting moved...so again WHY? I get to keep the boxes while their contents are all moving two states over???!!! When the in-laws died we spent one evening collapsing a 6ft by 6ft tower of boxes, in her basement, mom kept for anything she had ever purchased. Jewelry boxes to cow boxes for her first computer. They were harboring no visible critters, BTW. "Ya never know when you are going to NEED a box".

I will answer the actual question:

And 8 places to get free moving boxes

Nosoccermom - great link! But what is the photo of?

I suppose it's cardboard boxes redone to look like baskets:) very cute

(but I can predict the question "but how we're going to close these later when we need it at some point?"

and yet another "so we're going to leave only 15(random number) boxes? it's not enough to move!")

but who knows..might work. pretty solution, that's for sure