two alarm clocks (on the other side of the room), alarm on tv, and two different alarms on my cellphone. and i still manage to sleep through them occasionally.

i need help.

i use my cellphone....
but i also use one of those lamps that simulates daylight and gets brighter as it goes off....as well as annoying nature sounds that gradually get louder....or you can switch it to buzzer or the radio.
if that doesn't get me up, i may eventually get a timer for my apartment lights to all turn on at a certain time every morning.

Small travel alarm clock, but I usually wake up shortly before it goes off (Steph, if we could combine sleep habits, we would have one normal person)

Why is the traditional alarm an adjustment? Just curious.

I use a traditional alarm clock, no snooze button. I have for years had some version of the ugly digital clocks and was a snooze button addict, but the traditional alarm clock has cured me! And I bought it mainly because it's pretty! It's the Big Ben reproduction clock from LL Bean, in pastel orange.

Good old traditional alarm clock, but it has two alarms built in, one for me and one for my husband so that I don't have to reset it when I get up.

baby.

Cats. I have cats. Cats that get up and walk on my head when the sun rises.

But even when the kitties sleep in, I tend to be awake by 5:30 or 6:00 and so shun my alarm clock.

My dog wakes me up. But if I have to catch a plane, I set an alarm clock.

2 clock alarms (1 buzzer, 1 radio)
5 cell phone alarms

I'm not a morning person, in case you couldn't tell =}

In the summer, the sun. It's kind of a problem how early, since I live so far north the light comes very early. But once it is light outside, I wake up.

In the winter a music CD. I have a terrible time waking up in the winter because for me to be awake I really need the light.

I don't deal well with the harsh sounds of a typical alarm clock, digital or analog. I've been waking up to music since college. My roommate and I put a timer on our record player (yep) and we would wake up to Paul Winter Consort. Great waking up music! That was a long time ago!

traditional alarm clock. and a birdfeeder next to my window that brings natural alarm clocks to the window at the crack of dawn - sans snooze buttons.

Cell phone and cats.... the cats of course are the more persistent, and thus most effective means of getting me up. Except, of course, when I count on them getting me up.... then they choose to sleep in.

Yes, amt230! I had forgotten about the birds -- as early as 4:30 am.

my radio alarm goes off first and then my cellphone.

cell phone...and sometimes when my boyfriend gets up early and i wake up as a result, I move it under his pillow next to mine which muffles the sound and use the vibration to wake up later.

my boyfriend, however, says he sleeps better without cell phones charging near his head....

A VERY LOUD ALARM

Clock on beep. If i absolutely must be up at a certain time, i use a cd, "Everybody's Free to Wear Suscreen" import. The first track is the German-language version ("Sonnenkreme"). The sound of a man speaking German out of the blue brings me instantly awake.

The Boyfriend manages a restaurant, so when he has to be at work at 6:30am, I'm up with him at 5:30. When he doesn't have to be at work before the sun, I use an old wind-up alarm clock because I have a terrible fear that the power will go out in the middle of the night and if I have an ugly digital thing plugged into the wall it won't go off and I'll be late for work and I HATE being late.

Yes, I am slightly neurotic.

I must have the most well behaved cat because at first light she sees that I am still asleep, and cuddles next to me until I wake up.

But, for alarms I use two. I use my regular alarm clock and my cell phone. I usually end up turning off the clock before it goes off and grab my cell phone. Then when that goes off, I tap the snooze a few times and finally get up. Unfortunately I have to wear ear plugs due to the upstairs neighbors, so the 2 are sometimes necessary. That light alarm sounds like it could fix this.

I have a Sony clock/radio/alarm thingy. I set two alarms on it... and I usually hit the snooze for about an hour before I actually get up.
It's a slow progress, really. I've gotten much much better at not sleeping through the alarm, although there are some occasions where I still do (my brain is sometimes too powerful to control).

When I move though, I'm going to get a second alarm... a cat. :)

I use my cell phone alarm, but usually end up pushing snooze four or five times before I actually get up.

Babies. Both at once, usually.

Analog clock (but with a battery, not wind up), cute small item from IKEA -- I have to get out of bed to turn it off, which usually works, although I have been known to get up, turn it off, and get back into bed for "just a minute." If I sleep too late the cat walks on my back, because his bowl is empty.

I've always wondered if those nature sound alarms really work.

clock radio with 2 alarms. no big deal. I don't use the radio part of it though...

Now & Zen chime alarm - love it, very gentle (I hate being blasted out of bed by a loud alarm) and yet effective. Doesn't require hitting a snooze button - chime gradually sounds closer and closer together in time.

http://www.now-zen.com/cgi-bin/orders/shop.pl?ACTION=ENTER SHOP&thispage=digitalclocks&AFFILIATE=&ORDER_ID=%21ORDERID%21

Back when I had a cat, whenever he decided it was time for his breakfast, he would lick my eyelids - less gentle, too effective.

Clock radio with two alarms and the sun.

i relied on a japanese battery operated travel alarm clock for years but when a maid stole it from my hotel room i had to move on to new technology.

i found this one at Costco. It lets me awake to 1)buzzer 2)nature sounds (chimes, ocean, and rain) 3) radio.

http://www.amazon.com/Timex-T309T-Nature-Sounds-Titanium/dp/B000092TSX

its nice to have all three options as an alarm.

Cell phone alarm

Music on clock radio followed by cell phone alarm 15 min. later.

Well, my old method was having the cat bite my nose because she wanted breakfast.

But now the cat and I both get woken by the construction site next door when they start work on the dot of seven.

Cell phone. I even have the days of the week programmed in. Been just using the cell for a couple years now.

My baby (okay, toddler) sleeps later than I do. :p

Regular old Bose alarm/radio if that doesn't work, like this morning, the early raiser kid.

Like laetitiae, I have cats wanting their morning feeding. In the winter, they respond to my alarm clock (simple beeping contraption) between 5:30 and 6:00. Now that it's summer and the sun wakes them up much earlier, they start bugging me from about 5:00 onwards.

Unfortunately, the concept of sleeping in on the weekends has not yet sunk in for the wee kittehs.

If I get to bed when I prefer to, I will wake up on my own at about 8am or so. Usually, that's not early enough, so I use an iCal event to run an Applescript that launches iTunes and has it play a particular playlist. The last track is an internet radio station, which has gotten me into trouble more than once when my internet connection drops out. Years ago, I would use the alarm on my mini stereo to play a CD and then switch to the radio when it got to a track I didn't like.

generally the 2 cats or 2 dogs... but ALWAYS have the crackberry alarm set, just in case.. to the tune of "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" that will wake ANYONE up.. out of annoyance.

Usually it's an alarm clock with 2 alarms that continuously get louder. This morning it was a police raid on the pot farm next door. Aaaah-the joys of urban life!

There are far too many dogs on our street.
And living downtown, we tend to creep out of sleep over the course of a couple hours. Traffic, streetcars, neighbour-kids slamming around before 8am.

My partner and I work at night, so all of these things make us unpleasant in the morning.

I usually wake up in bed and with an empty stomach.

I have a yellow Moonbeam alarm clock. The flashing light usually does the trick, but if I don't turn it off in time it goes to the bell alarm. And that scares the crap out of me.

cat walks on us a 5:30

Big Ben goes off at 7:15

Cell phone goes off at 7:20.. and 30... and sometimes 40

I have this 15 year-old travel alarm that I bought at Kmart. It makes a sweet little beep beep noise. After 15 years, I am attuned to it. Except the morning where I covered my head with every blanket I own to drown out the chirpy birds outside... Now I own two alarm clocks! The second is across the room and set to some indeterminable station. If I don't kick my cat out at night, she will also walk on my head for her breakfast.

I get up WAY before the sun... usually no later than 6. Sometimes, around 4 am. For work. (I usually sleep twice a day... a nap around 3 and a night's sleep later) I currently use a cell phone but I hate it, because sometimes people call or text me really late, not knowing when I'm in bed. I'm getting an alarm clock.

I used to use a travel clock and now I use the cell phone alarm, but I always try to turn then off before they go off because I can't stand the sound of any alarms.

I used to use my cell phone, but had a mishap where I almost slept through a college exam because my phone had been on silent from a movie the night before.

Now, I use my traditional alarm clock. It just works the best.

Natural biological programming, years in counting.

My phone alarm, and a cat who knows when I'm supposed to get up so she can eat! She lightly scratches on the comforter to wake me up, and if that doesn't work, she pokes her wet nose in my face. Not the worst way to wake up in the morning!

cat method, too, except ours pat our faces on alternating sides. it's very gentle, but if you see it being done (as opposed to being the actual pat-ee), it looks a bit like they're slapping us awake.

We have a portable alarm clock. We've had her for 3½ yrs. She usually wanders in about 6.00am. Sometimes we get a rude awakening around 5.30am but the cuddles and kisses more than make up for that.

sony 'dream machine' i've had since second grade (20 years?). i'm thinking about taking it out back and shellacking it chinese red, so i can keep it forever.

cell phone but i really need to get an alarm clock because sometimes the alarm i set mysteriously disappears by morning but my cats always make sure i wake up

I used the alarm feature on my cell phone

I use a traditional alarm clock for back-up, but I normally wake on my own with the help of the sun.

Cat cell phone alarm clock... (all 3 with snooze functions)

iPod cat.

that was supposed to be iPod plus cat

I am one of those lucky ones who can 'set my head' when I go
to sleep. I just have to say "get up at 7:15" and i do! Once, out of town and with NO alarms of any kind and an early plane to catch, I prayed it would work - "gt up at 4:00 am" and by golly it did! Since then I've never doubted it. How, I wonder, does my brain know?

Cell phone. I do hit snooze on it quite a lot, however (for at least half an hour.) The good thing about using my cell for that is that I can put it in the bed with me instead of having to reeeeaaaaaach over to the bedside table. For I am lazy.

Two dogs, though never both at once on the same morning. I think they worked out a deal so only one needs to start badgering me for that hour before I actually get up. The other one is always peacefully asleep.

I have one of those digital alarm clocks with the buzzer. I tried radio stations for a while, but then I'd get the weirdest songs stuck in my head for the rest of the day, or I'd wake up to commercials. I still can't stand chimes because of a college roommate who would set her alarm to chimes and then push the button on it for an hour.

I've been trying a combo of digital alarm clock and cell phone, because I always ignore my alarm and go back to sleep. I use the cellphone because I can use really annoying ringtones and leave it in the kitchen, but I still go back to bed :P Normally I have my alarm clock set to the radio, and I do like to listen to the news before getting up.

I've used my cell phone alarm for as long as I've had a cellphone. Its the best travel alarm clock since it adjusts to new time zones, and I never forget my phone in the morning since its always in the same place.
My boyfriend still uses a clock radio, although I usually have to wake him up anyway.

Big Ben clock with Westclox. I've had it for about 7 years now. My backup is the cat...once she hears the alarm, it's all over!

Two babies too.

I usually just went up when I want to.. I know it sounds weird but I just tell myself what time to wake up and I do. No clocks, no sun, no babies, nothing wakes me up. My internal alarm does the job.

I used to use 3 alarms and the snooze button, but in my new place I put my bed right under a bright window, and it wakes me up refreshed by 7 or 8. I still use a phone alarm as a backup, but I usually wake up on my own beforehand.

Mobile phone alarm. I recently splurged on my all time favourite alarm clock - a Jacob Jensen, it looks great but doesn't wake me up.