Ok, i'm confused

There are soo many tutorials around here, i dunno which to follow first. So, from what i've read on the web site (i read all pages) and the forums, the steps to induce a lucid dream are the following:

1. Before attempting to induce LDing, i must practice my dream recall.
Questions: I can't and never woke up in the middle of sleeping, so i gotta set my alarm (cell phone)... 2 days, all the same: after the alarm rings and i wake up i don't remember any dream... ok... i got back to sleep and when i wake up i remembered 3 dreams (1 of which i remember the best), the second day i remember 1 dream but the same like the first day: when my alarm wake me up i didn't remembered any dream, only after i wake up again. I put my alarm to ring after (just once) 1hour and a half before i go to sleep... (eg, i got to sleep usually at 3 am, and i set my alarm at 4.30 am or 5.00) Do i really need to set my alarm every night?
Any tips about dream recalling would be great.

2. Ok, now i gotta identify my dream signs (with the Dream journal's help), so when i'll dream the next time i'll identify my dream sign and realize i'm dreaming.

3. Which method of inducing LDing is the best for a beginner ? (this is the last step right :?)

Now some questions:

1) In what step does reality check fits? What's it helpful for ?
2) Anything wrong if i go to bed at 2-3 am? I sleep over 7 hours... My family has a habit of waking me in the morning (not intentionally which pisses me the most)

Hey Utherr, welcome to Dreamviews, you got alot of questions so i'm gonna go ahead and answer them instead of yacking on :D

1. Many people may think that setting your alarm clock at different times in the morning will help you remember dreams better, and it probably does work, i never bother with it because it adds more pressure and if you wake and find you didn't remember a dream you feel pretty annoyed that you woke up at that time for nothing, just go to bed and don't set your alarm at random times, just put out the intention to remmber your dreams and when you awake in the morning try and write down all you remember, it will improve this way, its the way i've always done it and my dreams are getting more and more vivid this way. Plus if you don't set your alarm your stretching your mind in the morning and seeing how much you can remember, this is good i think because you will hopefully become better at remembering dreams when awaking, i certainly did. Just experiment, see what works best.

2. As for dream signs, the best way to recognise dream signs is to build the vividness of your dreams, the more vivid your dreams are the more likely your going to have a level of awareness that allows you to recognise these dream signs, once you find a reoccuring pattern in your dreams, something that seems to be in your dreams regularly just focus on pinning out that dream sign, but only do this once you've build up your vividness in dreams, it will make things alot easier.

3. Lucid dreaming can be easier for some and harder for others, its been hard for me, i've only had 5 lucid dreams over nearly 7 months and no induction technique seems to work for me except DILD (Dream induced Lucid Dream) and i have found that building the vividness of the dream enables me to recognise my dream signs and enable me to become lucid. This could work for you but since you have just started i suggest you just take it slowly and experiment with things. I have found DILD the best since the others do not work for me but thats just me. I would suggest you have a go at the MILD technique or the WBTB technique, tutorials for these can be found in the tutorial section. These two techniques have worked well for alot of people who have just started but if they don't work try something else in the tutorial section, if nothing works you may want to stick to DILD.

1) Reality checks are useful because if you do them during your waking life all the time its possible you may do one in your dream and that will hopefully trigger lucidity because you did one out of habit like in waking life. Just experiment and see whats best with reality checks.

2) I go to bed at 1-1:30am alot of the time, you can still lucid dream in this time but its not as likely because your REM periods will be shorter but if you go to bed earlier say 11 or 12 you will have a greater chance due to the latter hours which will have alonger REM period to enable you a longer dream session which gives you more time to become lucid.

Hope that helped and good luck on your lucid dreaming, its definately worth it, don't rush things, take it slowly and don't put too much pressure on yourself.

I'm not rushing things, it's just that is difficult with these parents :| and brother...

Ok, now i'll sleep without the alarm on, see if something changes.

Ok, now i have another question: for dream recalling, is it really necessary to remember the exact details of the dream to be effective? I mean this morning i had 3 dreams, (I remember all of them) i remember the essence of them, but not much details.

My dream sign is starting to take shape :) /happy. And what a dream sign /drool.

And thanks for the tip, before i drifted away into sleep i repeated my self in my mind "I'll remember the dreams i had in this night when i wake up" something like that. It really worked, i waked up with 2 dreams in my mind. I slept again and when i woke up i realized i had another dream...

Note: the last dream i remember it the best, the first 2 i only remember a few scenes.

bump?

ok:

1) Using alarm clocks, like every hour and a half will help you, as a dream period usually lasts that long.

2) You will identify your dream signs with your dream journal, as you will notice that a certain event or person or thing will pop up alot in your dreams.

3) The WBTB method with the MILD are the easiest for a newbie

1 again lol ) When you realise what your dream signs are, use a reality check when ever you see the sign or think about it. Chances are when this dream sign you will do the reality check.
Also Reality Checks can be done through out the day to get stuck in your head too.

2) There's nothing wrong with it aslong as your body adapts to the time, and as long as you have a good 7-9 hours sleep.