diff --git a/dot_config/environment b/dot_config/environment
index 6786a9a..561f1f9 100644
--- a/dot_config/environment
+++ b/dot_config/environment
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+
 # icky, but necessary since this might inject the needed XDG vars
 . "$HOME/.config/environment.local" 2>/dev/null
 . "$XDG_DATA_HOME/cargo/env" 2>/dev/null
 
+# set to defaults if any of these are unset
+export XDG_DATA_HOME="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"
+export XDG_STATE_HOME="${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}"
+export XDG_CONFIG_HOME="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}"
+export XDG_CACHE_HOME="${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}"
+
 # runit
 export SVDIR="$XDG_STATE_HOME"/service