I don't do sourdough discard

I'm a busy, lazy person, so I don't put my sourdough in the fridge. I want  it usable  on the spur of the moment.
I really don't like waisting the discard when I feed it every day. I let my sourdough go a while ago, so I started it again.  To reduce waist I started small. 1/4 cup flower, and a little less than 1/4 warm water. Each day I added 1/4 cup flower and a little less than 1/4 cup warm water. A week later I have a beautiful active sourdough starter.  
We are a family of adults. 3 of my 4 children still live at home. Even though we don't use the starter every day, when we use it we use a good amount, and  we do  use it several times a week. We don't replenish same amount of flour/water as we used, but  a smaller  amount. This way it's always useable, and doesn't overflow.  So far this is really working for us.  We aren't going through nearly as much flour, it's a lot less messy, and I'm not feeling bad about waisting, or feeling obligated to try to use the discard, because there isn't any.  This may change come summer, but for now we are enjoying lots of sourdough recipes. Delicious goodness without the guilt.

I will share this with my wife as she is just beginning the sourdough journey. Her biggest obstacle at this point seems to be the temperature (?) needed to create the starter.
We keep the house a little cooler during the winter months and set the t-stat at 65F.

I’m with you on that, Jen.

One thing I learned from participating in last year’s “Sourdough Party” is that a small batch works out much better. Now, like you I keep just a small amount, less than a cup. Previously, I had always tried to keep twice that in a bigger jar, and much more problems with weird spoilage.

My house is old and basically no insulation. It's cold in the kitchen especially at night. We drink a lot of tea, so there's usually Hot, or warm water in the tea pot. If it's hot I add a little cold. It feels warm, but not hot. That's the only thing I do, and it's doing well. Good luck, it's worth the effort, there's so many wonderful things you can make with sourdough, and supposed to be healthy too. I have only scratched the surface of what can be made. If I didn't make anything but pancakes it would be worth it.

i'm glad you posted this! I am thinking of getting back into sourdough after a few years without. i always kept a small-ish starter (mayonnaise jar type size-- because I never needed more than a cup of starter) and kept it very "no worries". In the warm months (as it is supposed to be right now, but the weather this year is bizarre, 50F in December, in summer...) it lives in the fridge, and i only leave it out for a few hours when i feed it.
I'll be starting a jar today!