diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 5824951..91ca456 100644
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -6,16 +6,11 @@ rm -rf ~/.fdignore ~/.fzf.bash ~/.fzf.zsh ~/.gitconfig ~/.gitignore ~/.history ~
 mkdir -p /tmp/${USER}-cache/ ~/.config ~/.local/bin ~/.local/share
 chmod 700 /tmp/${USER}-cache
 
-# prepare global variables
-echo "skip_global_compinit=1" > $HOME/.zshenv
-case $(uname -s) in
-  Darwin) echo "export XDG_CACHE_HOME=$HOME/Library/Caches" >> $HOME/.zshenv;;
-  Linux)  echo 'export XDG_CACHE_HOME=/tmp/${USER}-cache' >> $HOME/.zshenv;;
-esac
-echo "export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$HOME/.config" >> $HOME/.zshenv
-echo "export XDG_DATA_HOME=$HOME/.local/share" >> $HOME/.zshenv
-echo "export ZDOTDIR=$HOME/.config/zsh" >> $HOME/.zshenv
-. $HOME/.zshenv
+# export XDG stuff for later use
+export XDG_CACHE_HOME=/tmp/${USER}-cache
+export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$HOME/.config
+export XDG_DATA_HOME=$HOME/.local/share
+export XDG_STATE_HOME=$HOME/.local/state
 
 # prepare repository
 mkdir -p $XDG_DATA_HOME/repos
diff --git a/zsh/.zshenv b/zsh/.zshenv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0be057
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zsh/.zshenv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+skip_global_compinit=1
+export XDG_CACHE_HOME=/tmp/${USER}-cache
+export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$HOME/.config
+export XDG_DATA_HOME=$HOME/.local/share
+export XDG_STATE_HOME=$HOME/.local/state