I usually don't extrude a lot of faces when I make low-poly models. If I extrude anything, I generally extrude edges. Plus you've got your handy Polygon menu with it's Triangulate and Quadrangulate commands.

Usually, I'll start with a cube or cylinder and cut into it with split poly or cut faces tool to get new geometry rather than extruding.

That's just me, though. For my next model, I'll see about doing a time lapse.