Bed knobs and more bed knobs

I have never considered myself a hoarder. Yes I am prone to collecting books, especially children’s ones, but it doesn’t go much further than that. I don’t even particularly gather unnecessary pairs of shoes. It wasn’t until coming to this house near Barcelona, however, that I realise exactly how far off I was from ever gaining hoarder status, as I have finally learnt the true and extensive meaning of the word ‘hoard.’ I have never met anyone who has even a quarter of the quantity of random stuff that these lovely people we are staying with here do. But luckily for us, they are indeed hoarders and therefore have called upon us to help them sort through the incredible vastness.
I can’t help wishing I was better at DIY—if it’s not too late for a new year’s resolution then I will make one now to improve my skills in this area in one way or another—and of course I see the value of having a collection of nuts and bolts, screwdrivers, electric drills and so on. But there is a line. Yesterday I was told to sort three boxes of screws into large, medium and small. There must’ve been thousands of the things. I was overwhelmed even at that point, but it turned out that that wasn’t even the half of it. I’ve seen odds and sods today that I’ve never even dreamed of: door handles for every occasion, stacks of car alarms, spare toilet seats, a large box of hammers and mallets, I could go on forever. It’s amazing. Watching someone agonizingly decide to get rid of a lamp, then cut off the switch and the plug before throwing it away so that it’s not a complete waste, is one of the stranger sights I’ve witnessed in my life. And when Lee went with our host to dump discarded stuff at the bins, they came back with other things they'd found there, making it more of a trade-off than an exercise in de-cluttering.
What I find the most intriguing is the attitude that goes along with it, the ‘why thrown it away when it might be useful?’ mentality. I do see the logic behind this, but I am more of the ‘why keep it?’ school of thought, as I don’t think there's any point keeping loads of stuff when chances are you won’t actually be able to find it when the time comes anyway.
But that’s just me. My opinion is probably a result of uprooting myself regularly and therefore being accustomed to getting rid of anything that is not strictly necessary. Maybe when I finally have my own house, I will be so excited about having space that I will hoard anything and everything possible. I suppose only time will tell.