How to discarge static electricity

Do not work on carpet, ever, work on an insulated surface.

Easy way to make sure you are grounded, touch a cold water pipe prior to starting work and make sure you dont go across any carpets to get back to the parts. Everything in your house is grounded to a cold water pipe and then a grounding rod anyway. If you can limit the amount you get up and walk around while building the computer you wont generate very much static anyway. But remember a spark you can see is 10 kilovolts, it only takes 10 volts to fry a CPU.

Just touch touch the nearest metal object every now and than and don't drag your feet on the carpet. I haven't used a strap or even worried about static since school. As long as you aren't doing stupid stuff you'll be fine.

^ This is what I'm going to do when I build mine. Clear the kitchen table, cover it in cardboard/newspaper and keep touching the cold tap regularly.

Man, coming from a computer tech...me...while I use a wrist strap for anything I do at work, the stuff I've worked on at home, I never have used one, and no major problems. Make sure to touch an unpainted surface of the case before touching any parts, and handle everything by the edges, not by the connectors and you should be good.