When I was a teenager I partied pretty heavily so I took an (now) old school alarm clock that had a headphone jack, it was an am/fm clock, I took a couple of speakers I’d found in a thrift shop and made a 12 or 15 foot cord for it and plugged it into the clock. I put the speakers next to the bed and the clock across the room; just getting out of bed made it impossible for me to go back to sleep. I also put the tuner in between or slightly off stations so it wasn’t pleasant.

If you drink coffee or caffeine soda then have some nearby; if it’s coffee a cheap coffeemaker from a thrift shop isn’t expensive (habitat for humanity has great thrift shops if they have one in your town), they often have a timer on them; a little student fridge nearby for pop if that’s your thing.

Other tricks: i change the time on my clock regularly. I found my body would get into a habit, if I had a certain amount of time I could screw off and hit snooze then I’d go back to sleep, so changing the time I’d wake up would trick my head into thinking when I first woke; use two alarms, set differently; a cell phone can work for one of them; put a glass of water or ice in front of the alarm, so you have to carefully move the drink to get to the clock.

And pretty important, try to manage your time. I am 43 now and have a pretty tight schedule; I wouldn’t dream of going to bed after 10:30 on a weeknight since the latest I can wake up is 4:30 and get to work on time; if I’m late I’ll get crucified and when my apprenticeship’s over I’ll be making over $25/hour plus benefits in a job I love so I better be there on time!

Also, I try to make the most of the time I sleep. If you’re 21 or older then your body is slowing it’s production of melatonin and WalMart sells it for $8/bottle so I use 2 tabs per night and I make the most of my sleep. It’s said to help us live longer too so there ya go!

Oh yeah, when you have a chance, SLEEP IN!