So what is the point of the storage in a house? Just to keep it tidy? Why bother if I can just throw it all over the floor and not be limited by space?
Also, when you leave things on the floor or in the yard, it make take longer for your home page to load since it has to render so many items, depending on the speed/memory of your computer, etc.
Also, you can place a bag full of stuff in a cabinet. So if you have a cabinet with 12 spaces, you could potentially have 12 big bags in those slots full of stuff. Although, quite frankly why you'd need to hoard that much stuff is beyond me. :)
At one point there was a glitch with some of the cabinets, so I think others could open them, but they have fixed it. At one time, once you let someone come into your house, they could come in at any time when they were in the game, but they have changed it so they can only come in while you are online and only for that session...cabinets were critical when people could get into your house at any time...now they are more handy for neatness, and also if you are having a party or something and don't want things to walk off...
FP, I think it has more to do with collecting and keeping things on hand than hoarding per se (hoarding has a negative connotation of collecting for no real reason or to keep things from others)...if you want to have all the items needed for recipes you need probably 2-3 big bags of items - some folks like to leave them at home, others will carry them around in their inventory. If you like to help out at street projects, there are many items to gather to bring with you...peat, loam, dirt, planks, barnacles, jellisacs, each type of ore, etc. since you don't know what the projects will need until you get there (that is easily 2-3 more big bags). Also, some like to collect all the music blocks to have them on hand, often to share with friends who are looking for one to complete the set (2 bags) or to make that crab happy. And then there are all the pieces of the street project trophies...4 pieces to keep on hand until you get the 5th piece to complete the trophy (one more bag). Not to mention one bag just for seeds to plant if you are into croppery. That's probably 9-10 bags of stuff right there...and I am sure folks can come up with other things they collect for their interests...it's more about having the things on hand vice having to go out and gather each time you need something. I'm constantly selling extra items to the vendors (so not hoarding), but I still have a full cabinet and stuff lying on the floor...
I use my floor for sorting all of my stuff instead of the cabinet, even though i could probably fit everything into my enormous cabinet by using more bags.
But the cabinet is annoying to use with bags! I can't directly drop something into a bag in a cabinet (or even a bag on the floor) or take something out. I have to drop one of my bags I'm already holding, pick up the cabinet bag I want, do some switching around, put the cabinet bag back in the cabinet, and pick my usual bag back up. Just to, say, drop off an emblem at home!
So I just sort and store things I don't want to carry around on the gigantic floor of my house. I have piles of veggies all along my garden, so when I want to cook, I just drag the ingredients I need into my bags. Piles of veggies seeds sit next to the garden. I have piles of blockmaking stuff ready to go. I have a pile of tree poison for when I decide I want to swap out one of my trees -- not carrying that toxic stuff around with me! I have piles of my extra street trophy pieces for friends to come by and pick up. I have herbs and their seeds sitting around waiting for the day I get motivated to do something with them. I have more empty firefly jars than I know what to do with. It goes on and on.
But I only let people into my house if I'd had some nice interactions with them before. It's not foolproof, but I haven't gotten screwed yet.