For auxiliary hardware for the Arduino, use a breadboard, and get components from a salvaged electronic device - an old pre-2000s TV is best, but anything will

For auxiliary hardware for the Arduino, use a breadboard, and get components from a salvaged electronic device - an old pre-2000s TV is best, but anything will do: a radio, stereo system. They should ideally be pretty old so that they contain enough discrete components. Newer stuff is all SoC - System on a Chip - just a big proprietary non-reusable chip and very few other components. You can desolder and reuse pretty much any component: connectors, passive elements (resistors, capacitors), switches, active elements (diodes, transistors), LEDs, speakers, relays. You can even reuse bigger functional blocks like power supplies or power amplifiers. I used to do this all the time when I was a teenager. Nothing like having an idea at midnight and scavenging the components to try it out at once, and not having to wait next day to buy them. Plus, it reduces e-waste, which is horrible to recycle, despite what we are told. And stay safe, learn you electric safety rules! PS: nice first project idea - light alarm that wakes you up in the morning, like the fancy, pretty expensive Phillips Wake-up Light Alarm devices. Later, make the light able to fade-in using maybe a thyristor. A nice enclosure is hard to make though - that's where Phillips has the advantage.