We're glad to hear that you've started your own sourdough journey, Molly! For each maintenance feeding, you do want to discard. This makes room for new yeast cells and good food-fermenting bacteria to grow. The only time you won't discard at a feeding is if you've just taken out what you need to bake a recipe, or if you're doing a "build" to increase the amount of starter you have on hand for a recipe. A build takes place at the last feeding before you plan to bake. We hope this helps and happy baking! 

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