diff --git a/src/hottub/resource.clj b/src/hottub/resource.clj
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1cc21a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/hottub/resource.clj
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+(ns hottub.resource
+  (:use hottub.util)
+  (:import [org.newdawn.slick Image]))
+
+(def resource-cache (atom {}))
+(def garbage-resources (atom #{}))
+
+(defn last-modified [filename]
+  (.lastModified (java.io.File. filename)))
+  
+(defn cached-resource [filename]
+  (:resource (get @resource-cache filename)))
+
+(defn cache-resource [filename resource fncleanup]
+  (println "caching new resource" filename)
+  (swap! resource-cache assoc filename 
+         {:resource resource
+          :last-modified (last-modified filename)
+          :fncleanup fncleanup})
+  resource)
+
+(defn expire-resource [filename]
+  (swap! garbage-resources conj filename))
+
+(defn- expire-resource-impl [filename]
+  (if-let [resource (get @resource-cache filename)]
+    (do
+      (swap! resource-cache dissoc filename)
+      (if-let [fncleanup (:fncleanup resource)]
+        (do
+          (try
+            (println "cleaning up" resource)
+            (fncleanup (:resource resource))
+            (catch Exception e (println "Couldn't clean up resource" resource e))))))))
+
+(defn expire-outdated-resources []
+  (doseq [[filename resource] @resource-cache]
+    (if (not= (:last-modified resource) (last-modified filename))
+      (expire-resource filename))))
+
+(defn get-resource [filename fnloader & [fncleanup]]
+  (if-let [resource (cached-resource filename)]
+    resource
+    (cache-resource filename (fnloader filename) fncleanup)))
+
+(defn get-image [filename] (get-resource filename #(Image. %) #(.destroy %)))
+
+(defn gc-expired-resources []
+  (doseq [filename (reset-returning-old! garbage-resources #{})]
+    (expire-resource-impl filename)))
+
+(defn start-resource-expiry-thread []
+  (.start (Thread. (fn []
+    (loop []
+      (expire-outdated-resources)
+      (Thread/sleep 1000)
+      (recur))))))