Mine usually stays plugged in at all times. If I am doing anything else on the PC for an extended period of time, I unplug from the back of the wheel and put the wheel on the floor still usually plugged into the USB. If I am going flying or messing with the RC flight sim, then I unplug everything to plug in another controller. I've had mine for 2 years.
If you forget to plug it back in before starting LFS, just plug it in and hit shift-c on the keyboard to reinitialize the wheel in LFS.