diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cc39953..4b396c8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,13 @@
 birthdays
 =========
 
-shellscript for printing upcoming birthdays
\ No newline at end of file
+shellscript for printing upcoming birthdays
+
+in ~/birthdays:
+
+between date (month/day) and message it is important to put a tabulator!
+
+example:
+
+1/1	happy new year!
+4/6	fred's birthday
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/birthdays.sh b/birthdays.sh
index ccb2f2e..a4d0440 100755
--- a/birthdays.sh
+++ b/birthdays.sh
@@ -1,15 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# path to file
 conf_file=$HOME/birthdays
 days_left=30
 
 readarray lines < "$conf_file"
 
 for i in "${lines[@]}"; do
-    birthday=$(date -d "$( cut -f 1 <<< "$i" )" +%j 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^0*//')
-    today=$(date +%j 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^0*//')
-    days=$(( ${birthday} - ${today} ))
+    days=$(( $(date -d "$( cut -f 1 <<< "$i" )" +%j 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^0*//') - $(date +%j 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^0*//') ))
     if  [ 0 -le "$days" ] && [ "$days" -le "$days_left" ];then
 	if [ "$days" -le $((days_left / 2)) ];then
 	    echo -e "\033[33m$( cut -f 2- <<< "$i" ) in $days days\033[m"
@@ -18,6 +15,5 @@ for i in "${lines[@]}"; do
 	else
 	    echo -e "\033[32m$( cut -f 2- <<< "$i" ) in $days days\033[m"
 	fi
-	
     fi
 done