diff --git a/backup.py b/backup.py
index 5f5b063..da0b3d9 100644
--- a/backup.py
+++ b/backup.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ def main():
         config = json.load(config_file)
 
         backup_path = config['local']['path']
+        backup_server_age = config['local']['backup_server_age']
+        backup_local_age = config['local']['backup_age']
 
         hosts = config['remote']
 
@@ -15,13 +17,21 @@ def main():
                 backup_dir = '{}/{}'.format(backup_path, service).lower()
                 if not os.path.exists(backup_dir):
                     os.mkdir(backup_dir)
+                print('deleting local files older than {}days in {}'.format(
+                    backup_local_age, backup_dir
+                ))
+                cmd = 'find {} -mindepth 1 -mtime +{} -delete'.format(
+                    backup_dir, backup_local_age
+                )
+                print('({})'.format(cmd))
+                os.system(cmd)
                 print('from ' + hosts[host][service] + ' to ' + backup_dir)
                 cmd = 'scp {}:{}/* {}'.format(host, hosts[host][service],
                                               backup_dir)
                 print('({})'.format(cmd))
                 os.system(cmd)
-                cmd = 'ssh {} rm -f {}/* '.format(host, hosts[host][service],
-                                                  backup_dir)
+                cmd = 'ssh {} "find {} -mindepth 1 -mtime +{} -delete"'.format(
+                    host, hosts[host][service],backup_dir, backup_server_age)
                 print('({})'.format(cmd))
                 os.system(cmd)
 
diff --git a/config.json.example b/config.json.example
index 915ff3c..ff25f00 100644
--- a/config.json.example
+++ b/config.json.example
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
     }
   },
   "local" : {
-    "path" : "/backup/storage/folder/"
+    "path" : "/backup/storage/folder/",
+    "backup_server_age" : 7,
+    "backup_age" : 30
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file