How to Set an Alarm That Won’t Wake Your Roommate
I live with four other people, three of them are moody children. If I have to get up early, I want to sneak out of the house so no one wakes up. But if I put on a quiet, subtle alarm, I will ignore it too.
If you have roommates or a partner with a different sleep pattern than yours, I know you know this problem. The best solution I’ve found is a smartwatch or fitness tracker. They usually allow you to set a silent alarm that will sound when it’s time to get up. But this is only half of the solution. Here’s the best way to use your fear of waking your roommate to get you out of bed:
Step 1. Set a loud, annoying alarm on your phone
Of course, don’t put your phone next to your bed (you shouldn’t do that anyway). Make sure he is in a place where he will wake up your roommate / partner / child. This could be your child’s bedroom in the hallway. Now you are very keen to prevent this alarm from going off.
Step # 2: Set your watch to a silent alarm for five minutes before the loud alarm goes off.
So if you want to get up at 6, set the silent alarm to 5:55. When it buzzes, you need to grab your phone and either cancel the upcoming alarm, or just stick it in your pocket and take it with you to the bathroom while you brush your teeth. (Or shove it under your pillow, or whatever you have.)
With Apple Watch, your iPhone’s alarm will also ring on your watch, so if you’re both smart and lazy, you may eventually find that you can turn off the loud alarm on your watch. If you are fast enough, you may not wake anyone up. If you reach that level of advanced nap, the solution is to buy yourself an old-school, metallic, jingle, give-you-a-heart-attack-and-wake-up-everyone-on-the-block. alarm. As a last resort, you can use a cute traveler alarm with a high- pitched digital beep. Just make sure it’s loud, annoying, and away from your bed.