John,
I use several "Save" actions, depending on what I have done.
Ctrl+S, or File Save, are used fairly often.
When I have completed a large segment, and especially if I will be shutting down for the day, I do a Save_As. That leaves the original Project, with its AutoSaves, untouched, and my Save_As Project is left open in Premiere.
I also employ Save_As_a_Copy, to "archive" a Project, but continue working on the one open in Premiere.
I use the same scheme, in both versions of Premiere, and have never lost a Project. Now, I might have to redo some work, should something happen after the last Save_As, if my AutoSaves do not help, but I have never lost more than about an hour's work. Also, I have found Premiere (both versions) to be quite stable. Over the years, I have had more crashes (maybe 3 - 4) with PrE, than PrPro, and usually when I was trying to work on a Project that was really too large for that program. I have never encountered a Project size issue in any version of PrPro.
For more info on Saving, this article might be useful to you, to determine which is right for that moment in time: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3397716#3397716
Good luck,
Hunt