diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 631b805..afa9a58 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -168,22 +168,27 @@ Resource     | Values         | Default | Description
 shellex.pos  | pointer｜focus | focus   | If pointer, shellex shows the window on the window, the mousepointer is on, else it uses the output, where most of the currently focused window is (falling back to the pointer-method, if the root-window is focused).
 shellex.edge | bottom｜top    | top     | On what screenedge to show shellex
 
-The other source of configuration are small shell-script-snippets. When
-starting, `shellex` will look into `$HOME/.shellex` and into `/etc/shellex`. It
-will then source all the snippets in either location. If there is an
-identically named file in both directories, the one in your home will be
-preferred.
-
-This makes for a pretty flexible configuration process: Usually there will be a
-lot of snippets in `/usr/lib/shellex/conf`, which should be self-contained and
-without a lot of side-effects. In `/etc/shellex` there then are some symlinks
-to those snippets, making up the default-configuration on this system, together
-with administrator-provided additional defaults. Whenever you don't want a
-snippet form `/etc/shellex` to be used, just create a symlink of the same name
-to `/dev/null` in `$HOME/.shellex`. If you want to create your own snippets,
-just put them in `$HOME/.shellex` under a name not used yet and it will be
-automatically sourced.
-
+On start, `shellex` assembles a list of snippet basenames by looking at all of
+the paths listed below. For each snippet basename, `shellex` loads the first
+file it finds when looking through the paths in order:
+
+1. `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/.shellex`. Typically unset, defaulting to `$HOME/.config/shellex`.
+2. `$HOME/.shellex`
+3. `/etc/shellex` (shellex defaults, symlinks to `/usr/shellex/conf/`)
+
+To customize shellex, you can do the following things in
+`$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/.shellex` or `$HOME/.shellex/`:
+
+1. Overwrite a default by creating a new snippet of the same name
+2. Not include a default by creating a symlink to `/dev/null` of the same same
+3. Include an example-snippet not used by default, by creating a symlink to `/usr/shellex/snippet`
+4. Write you own snippets with a currently unused name
+
+To avoid naming-conflicts in the future, you should add a common suffix to all
+your own snippets. Snippets are run in ascending order. By choosing a number
+which sorts between/after the existing snippet(s) you can ensure it runs at the
+desired time. E.g. if your snippet beeps on errors, name it 15-errorbeep so that
+it sorts before 20-nobeep.
 
 Command-line
 ============
diff --git a/conf/shellexrc.in b/conf/shellexrc.in
index cc850c3..801bec9 100644
--- a/conf/shellexrc.in
+++ b/conf/shellexrc.in
@@ -9,17 +9,27 @@
 #  . means "only regular files"
 #  -. means "regular files and symlinks pointing to regular files"
 #  N means "empty list in case of no matches"
-thefiles=(@SYSCONFDIR@/shellex/* $HOME/.shellex/*(-.N))
+thefiles=(
+  @SYSCONFDIR@/shellex/*
+  ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/shellex/*(-.N)
+  $HOME/.shellex/*(-.N)
+)
 
 # get the basenames of all files and make unique list
 # http://stackoverflow.com/a/9516801
 uniquified=( $( for f in "${thefiles[@]}" ; do basename $f ; done | sort -u ) )
 
-# source each file from $HOME/.shellex if it exists there, otherwise from /etc
+# source each file from the first of:
+# 1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/.shellex (typically $HOME/.config/shellex)
+# 2. $HOME/.shellex
+# 3. @SYSCONFDIR@/shellex
 for f in $uniquified
 do
-# -r checks if file exists and is readable
-  if [[ -r $HOME/.shellex/$f ]]
+  # -r checks if file exists and is readable
+  if [[ -r ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/shellex/$f ]]
+  then
+    source $HOME/.config/shellex/$f
+  elif [[ -r $HOME/.shellex/$f ]]
   then
     source $HOME/.shellex/$f
   else
diff --git a/doc/man/shellex.man.in b/doc/man/shellex.man.in
index 7f6bf44..dbc0ebc 100644
--- a/doc/man/shellex.man.in
+++ b/doc/man/shellex.man.in
@@ -51,12 +51,16 @@ terminal window.
 
 *shellex* configuration snippets can be found in *@PREFIX@@LIBDIR@/shellex/*.
 
-On start, *shellex* looks into @SYSCONFDIR@/shellex for default-snippets to
-source (usually this will be symlinks to *@PREFIX@@LIBDIR@/shellex/*) as well
-as into *$HOME/.shellex/* for any user-configuration. If a file of the same
-name exists in both locations, it will only use the one in *$HOME/.shellex/*.
+On start, *shellex* assembles a list of snippet basenames by looking at all of
+the paths listed below. For each snippet basename, *shellex* loads the first
+file it finds when looking through the paths in order:
 
-To customize shellex, you can do the following things in *$HOME/.shellex/*:
+1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/.shellex. Typically unset, defaulting to $HOME/.config/shellex.
+2. $HOME/.shellex
+3. @SYSCONFDIR@/shellex (shellex defaults, symlinks to *@PREFIX@@LIBDIR@/shellex/conf/*)
+
+To customize shellex, you can do the following things in
+*$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/.shellex* or *$HOME/.shellex/*:
 
 1. Overwrite a default by creating a new snippet of the same name
 2. Not include a default by creating a symlink to */dev/null* of the same same
@@ -64,7 +68,10 @@ To customize shellex, you can do the following things in *$HOME/.shellex/*:
 4. Write you own snippets with a currently unused name
 
 To avoid naming-conflicts in the future, you should add a common suffix to all
-your own snippets.
+your own snippets. Snippets are run in ascending order. By choosing a number
+which sorts between/after the existing snippet(s) you can ensure it runs at the
+desired time. E.g. if your snippet beeps on errors, name it 15-errorbeep so that
+it sorts before 20-nobeep.
 
 == AUTHORS