Difficult seeds - which method do you prefer?

With difficult seeds it is mainly about breaking winter dormancy, or multi cycle dormancy.
In most cases it is best to sow fresh, but often seeds can only be obtained by seed companies.

I have tried various methods with mixed results and I want to know which ones you prefer:

1. Outdoor in boxes and hoping the winter will be cold enough (I only tried that this year without cover)
2. Little moist bags with sand in the fridge, sometimes it did work, sometimes not
3. zip lock bags in the fridge with seeds in coffee filters (I only tried that this year)
4. Zip lock bags in a big box outside (I didn't try but read about it)

I find that the outdoor method is difficult as I sometimes forget to water the seeds and I don't know weather this kills them, I will see in spring.