diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 701e96a3a7..e73ba026ff 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ ENHANCEMENTS:
 - commands return error code (1) on failure for easier script testing
 - add `reset_all` to basecli, and never delete keys on `init`
 - new shutil based unit tests, with better coverage of the cli actions
+- just `make fresh` when things are getting stale ;)
 
 BUG FIXES:
 - no longer panics on missing app_options in genesis (thanks, anton)
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c7574c2865..9013b03806 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 GOTOOLS =	github.com/mitchellh/gox \
 			github.com/Masterminds/glide
-PACKAGES=$(shell go list ./... | grep -v '/vendor/')
 
 all: get_vendor_deps install test
 
@@ -18,7 +17,7 @@ dist:
 test: test_unit test_cli
 
 test_unit:
-	go test $(PACKAGES)
+	go test `glide novendor`
 	#go run tests/tendermint/*.go
 
 test_cli: tests/cli/shunit2
@@ -43,6 +42,14 @@ tools:
 	go get -u -v $(GOTOOLS)
 
 clean:
-	@rm -f ./basecoin
+	# maybe cleaning up cache and vendor is overkill, but sometimes
+	# you don't get the most recent versions with lots of branches, changes, rebases...
+	@rm -rf ~/.glide/cache/src/https-github.com-tendermint-*
+	@rm -rf ./vendor
+	@rm -f $GOPATH/bin/{basecoin,basecli,counter,countercli}
 
-.PHONY: all build install test test_cli test_unit get_vendor_deps build-docker clean
+# when your repo is getting a little stale... just make fresh
+fresh: clean get_vendor_deps install
+	@if [[ `git status -s` ]]; then echo; echo "Warning: uncommited changes"; git status -s; fi
+
+.PHONY: all build install test test_cli test_unit get_vendor_deps build-docker clean fresh