diff --git a/init.el b/init.el
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/init.el
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;; Keep emacs clean!
+;; Change the user-emacs-directory to keep unwanted things out of ~/.emacs.d
+(setq user-emacs-directory (expand-file-name "~/.cache/emacs/")
+      url-history-file (expand-file-name "url/history" user-emacs-directory))
+
+(setq custom-file (expand-file-name "custom.el" user-emacs-directory))
+
+
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;; set up straight package manager
+(defvar bootstrap-version)
+(let ((bootstrap-file
+       (expand-file-name "straight/repos/straight.el/bootstrap.el" user-emacs-directory))
+      (bootstrap-version 5))
+  (unless (file-exists-p bootstrap-file)
+    (with-current-buffer
+        (url-retrieve-synchronously
+        "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/raxod502/straight.el/develop/install.el"
+        'silent 'inhibit-cookies)
+      (goto-char (point-max))
+      (eval-print-last-sexp)))
+  (load bootstrap-file nil 'nomessage))
+
+(straight-use-package 'use-package)
+(setq straight-use-package-by-default t)
+
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;; Install org-mode
+(straight-use-package 'org)
+
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;; Helper functions
+
+;; Helper function for loading elisp files
+(defun load-elisp-if-exists (f)
+  "load the elisp file only if it exists and is readable"
+  (if (file-readable-p f)
+      (load-file f)))
+
+;; (defun load-orgfile-if-exists (f)
+;;   "load the elisp file only if it exists and is readable"
+;;   (if (file-readable-p f)
+;;       (org-babel-load-file (f))))
+
+
+
+;; Load configuration
+;; Load myconfig.el unless there are changes in myconfig.org
+(let ((config-el (expand-file-name "myconfig.el" user-emacs-directory))
+      (config-org (expand-file-name "myconfig.org" user-emacs-directory)))
+  (if (and (file-exists-p config-el)
+           (time-less-p (file-attribute-modification-time (file-attributes config-org))
+                        (file-attribute-modification-time (file-attributes config-el))))
+      (load-file config-el)
+    (org-babel-load-file config-org)))