diff --git a/sway/config.c b/sway/config.c
index 82215ba5..f520cc88 100644
--- a/sway/config.c
+++ b/sway/config.c
@@ -278,8 +278,8 @@ static char *get_config_path(void) {
 	for (i = 0; i < (int)(sizeof(config_paths) / sizeof(char *)); ++i) {
 		if (wordexp(config_paths[i], &p, 0) == 0) {
 			path = strdup(p.we_wordv[0]);
+			wordfree(&p);
 			if (file_exists(path)) {
-				wordfree(&p);
 				return path;
 			}
 		}