Bitsy, in response to your question for me: Yes!

Organizing Modern and Innovative Design Ideas
From <http://homedesign2you.com/modern-and-innovative-design-ideas-from-ikea-living-room-collections/>

Tillie
the article from was really interesting and important. It is surprising how like with pollution many dangerous things are not so obvious as the following excerpt mentions.
."a compulsive hoarder's home is often chaotic, Concha said, with heaps of material in no discernable order. In extreme cases, doors and windows are blocked, impeding entrance or exit in an emergency."

"The greatest risk, however, may be the fuel load itself .due to increased use of plastics and synthetics in clothing, furniture, and other household items ? including those gathered as part of a hoarding trove ? the flashover point may occur in as little as three minutes, he said. When faced with a hoarding situation where access to a home is difficult because there's so much stuff inside, an incident commander must weigh the added risk when considering whether to send firefighters in. That added caution could mean anyone trapped inside stands a lesser chance of rescue or survival."

I also posted the URL to the nfpa article on the Fire Dangers in Hoarding Homes thread on the Hoarding Safety board

LR2014
are we free to offer differing opinions?

Bitsy, you are correct that all of us here on this website are free to make our own choices. As we read the posts of others on the message boards, we are certainly free to "take" only the ideas that we like and that we believe will help us in our personal situations. We have many things in common, but it is also true that each person's situation is different.

link

Here is a link to an informative article. It is long but well worth the read.

Thanks, Tillie, for pointing out the fire risk of empty cardboard boxes (filled with styrofoam packing pieces, no less). And those empty boxes are full of air (think oxygen) so they really are a tinder pile just waiting for a spark, aren't they?

I like your idea of wrapping small appliances and electronics in towels, blankets or rented pads.

So I'm going to take the plunge and toss out all the small appliance and electronics boxes and their packing pieces.

I still have some flattened large size moving boxes from my last move. When I move again (which it looks like will be sooner, rather than later) I can just wrap up all my things and pack the wrapped items into these larger boxes.

The flattened boxes don't take up much space because they're and they stack side by side in my storage locker, so there's no air between them.

I've made quite a bit of progress on this latest round of downsizing, and really enjoy the feeling of seeing cleared off shelves and clear floor space.

OK, it's off to the recycling dumpster with me while there's a break in the rain,

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Sleepless"

there is a difference between 100 boxes in a loft and 2 boxes in a locker. so I am stupid I guess but I thought there was room for some individual differences and preferences. I feel discouraged...

I don't have a succinct answer to your question, Will, but I gave it some thought. One of my first thoughts was something that Tillie just said . . . that oftentimes things can be wrapped in blankets or thick towels for protection when moving. Then I noticed a "pretty" and sturdy toaster-oven box near my entranceway. It had been in that dining room area I was trying to declutter a few days ago, and I had moved it to put something else in its place. I didn't know if it had anything in it or not (was wrapped in clear plastic). I checked the contents. (Empty.) This discussion thread helped me realize that it's in my way, I don't need it, and it's getting shoved here and there. Out it will go. (Thanks!)

O.K. here is my thinking about storing cardboard boxes.
Should a fire break out those boxes would just fuel it.
The fire would become so hot & fast & furious that the fire department would only be able to try to prevent the fire from speading to the entire neighborhood.
Any paper based product like boxes, newspapers, books, etc fuel fires. They burn easily and hot.
Whenever you read a news article about a hoarded house fire the fire officials say that due to the amount of paper products stored in the home, the house was not able to be saved.
Too often lives are lost.

I live with a hoarder.
I try to respect his property, but I do try to remove any obvious hazards.
He had filled the garage loft completely with these saved boxes. Hundreds of them.
I climbed up there and started tossing down these empty boxes.
Then made the very difficult journey through the garage carrying them outside.
The garage it's self is filled floor to rafters with all his assorted collections.
It took me many many trips up the ladder to the loft, fighting with wasps up there to toss down all these boxes and carry them outside.
Once they were all outside I showed him that he had hundreds of boxes.
He then watched as I broke them down and one by one burned them in my burn barrel.
Had the garage caught on fire with all those boxes up there the garage and house would have all been completely lost and probably even mine and the cats lives too.

If some day you do decide to move I would suggest that instead of a box for appliances you use a moving blanket to protect them. These blankets are available to rent from moving companies.
Or just use the blankets you already own.

congratulations on "pruning" your box supply.Your logic seems pretty on track to me.Keeping a few boxes for packing special things to move seems like a good rule of thumb if you have room out of the way for them. It's not like they are stored on your bed or that you are tripping over them on the floor.
It is easier for me to get rid of some things when I think of it as pruning instead of purging. Words have different emotional effects on different people.

One of my weaknesses is a well made cardboard box. You never know when you're going to need one of a certain size or shape. So I've had to train myself not to pick up discarded boxes and cartons at the supermarket or pluck clean dry ones out of the recycling dumpster.

Day before yesterday I purged my box collection and cut it down to about half its former size.

But now I'm faced with all those boxes and cartons that appliances and electronics came in. I've been saving them for the next time I move, so I'll have the right size box with the proper packing materials inside it to prevent damage to the appliances and electronics.

Today I pulled them out of my downstairs storage locker and found boxes for items that I've long since tossed out. I have to confess that I wanted to keep them because they are such large, heavy duty boxes. But I'm going to flatten them and toss them into the recycling bin.

But what about the boxes for the appliances I still own?

Have any of you come up with rules for deciding which kinds of boxes to keep (if any), and which ones to toss? I'm thinking that boxes for large, odd shaped appliances are probably keepers, since it might be difficult to scare up the right size boxes for those. And that all the others I should just flatten and toss out.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Sleepless"