I leave a lot of it out for a ong time 2-3 weeks depending on the temp of the room. If you forget and you need it, just zap it in the micro 10 secs. at a time.
From my understanding, you can leave salted butter out for quite some time. It's the unsalted that will turn rancid on you. I leave a stick of salted in my butter dish out all of the time with no ill effects.
Same here! I always leave a stick of butter out in my butter dish next to the stove. It stays soft and ready for toast, grilled cheese, omelets, whatever. It's never gone bad on me, but all I use is salted unless I have a specific recipe for unsalted. I'd go with crisseyann's advice with the unsalted. Makes sense, salt is sometimes used as a preservative.
OK, I've got a question for you. If salted butter can be left out for days, even weeks, then why is it that a cake that has been frosted with buttercream frosting that contains butter and no milk have to be refrigerated within a couple of days? Hmmm, I'm so confused 
Please help.........
I think people are just trying to be safe. I always leave some butter out on the counter so its spreadable, we use it before it goes bad. Probably nothing wrong with butter icing - fillings with eggs (cooked custard type) is probably a different story. If its for my own family I wouldnt worry. I also dont throw cream cheese and yogurt out on the best before dates either!!
I seldom refrigerate cakes either--in fact I purposely use water instead of milk in my BC so I won't have to refrigerate. The exception is if I use a cream or whipped cream filling. I'm with Crimsicle--we leave it out till it's gone (although it seldom takes us a week 
)
What you are saying does make sense. I could never understand why people would say to refrigerate after 2-3 days. I thought it must be true because I have read it over and over again, especially on the Wilton forums. I can understand having to refrigerate if your buttercream frosting contained a good deal of milk or eggs, etc. I have also been trying to figure out what type of fillings to use that would not have to be refrigerated. I've heard a lot about the sleeve pastry fillings and I've heard that they do not need to be refrigerated. They have every flavor that you can think of and they are actually very inexpensive. So, this would mean that I can actually have a cake with buttercream frosting and a filling and not have to refrigerate... COOL!!!! 
I'd love to hear from anyone who has used the sleeve pastry fillings. Thanks, everyone!!
Butternut, I've used a couple of the sleeve fillings and they're very good. Here's the web address where you can order them:
http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/mini.aspx?T=1&SubCatId=798
You can do at least 4 eight inch cakes with each sleeve, so order accordingly. I unknowingly bought enough to last for YEARS 
! They have so many flavors and I wanted to try them all!
DENISE
Thanks so much Denise for the information on the pastry fillings. Wow, everyone of them sound fantastic. I want one of each ) I made a Pina Colada cake and I'm thinking that the pineapple filling would be great with that. Then maybe a buttercream icing with a touch of coconut flavoring? Geeeez, the possibilities are unlimited 
This is from www.baking911 website ( great website)
Question: Why doesn't buttercream made with butter, powdered sugar and a small amount of milk need refrigeration?
Answer: Because of its high content of sugar and fat. Micro-organisms need water to grow. When the sugar content is so high, the sugar binds the water in such a way that micro-organisms cannot utilize it. Technically its called "water activity control.
JoAnn
I have found that I can take butter straight from the fridge and stick it in my microwave and use the defrost button for about 15 seconds and two sticks are usually perfectly room temperature after that......with absolutely so soft spots or any melted areas at all!!!! It works great when you're in a pinch and forget to leave the butter out.
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