diff --git a/.zshrc b/.zshrc
index 7931831..820429f 100644
--- a/.zshrc
+++ b/.zshrc
@@ -182,8 +182,8 @@ setopt pushdminus
 # Utility functions
 
 function new-scratch {
-  cur_dir="$HOME/scratch"
-  new_dir="$HOME/tmp/scratch-`date +'%s'`"
+  local cur_dir="$HOME/scratch"
+  local new_dir="$HOME/tmp/scratch-`date +'%s'`"
   mkdir -p $new_dir
   ln -nfs $new_dir $cur_dir
   cd $cur_dir