diff --git a/crates/eww/src/app.rs b/crates/eww/src/app.rs
index 2e9aad9..d415509 100644
--- a/crates/eww/src/app.rs
+++ b/crates/eww/src/app.rs
@@ -372,7 +372,8 @@ impl App {
         log::info!("Reloading windows");
 
         self.script_var_handler.stop_all();
-        self.script_var_handler = script_var_handler::init(self.app_evt_send.clone());
+        let old_handler = std::mem::replace(&mut self.script_var_handler, script_var_handler::init(self.app_evt_send.clone()));
+        old_handler.join_thread();
 
         log::trace!("loading config: {:#?}", config);
 
diff --git a/crates/eww/src/script_var_handler.rs b/crates/eww/src/script_var_handler.rs
index 3bc7541..fde341e 100644
--- a/crates/eww/src/script_var_handler.rs
+++ b/crates/eww/src/script_var_handler.rs
@@ -24,8 +24,7 @@ use yuck::config::script_var_definition::{ListenScriptVar, PollScriptVar, Script
 /// the script var execution.
 pub fn init(evt_send: UnboundedSender<DaemonCommand>) -> ScriptVarHandlerHandle {
     let (msg_send, mut msg_recv) = tokio::sync::mpsc::unbounded_channel();
-    let handle = ScriptVarHandlerHandle { msg_send };
-    std::thread::spawn(move || {
+    let thread_handle = std::thread::spawn(move || {
         let rt = tokio::runtime::Runtime::new().expect("Failed to initialize tokio runtime for script var handlers");
         rt.block_on(async {
             let _: Result<_> = try {
@@ -39,10 +38,10 @@ pub fn init(evt_send: UnboundedSender<DaemonCommand>) -> ScriptVarHandlerHandle
                             handler.add(var).await;
                         }
                         ScriptVarHandlerMsg::Stop(name) => {
-                            handler.stop_for_variable(&name)?;
+                            handler.stop_for_variable(&name).await?;
                         }
                         ScriptVarHandlerMsg::StopAll => {
-                            handler.stop_all();
+                            handler.stop_all().await;
                             break;
                         }
                     },
@@ -51,12 +50,14 @@ pub fn init(evt_send: UnboundedSender<DaemonCommand>) -> ScriptVarHandlerHandle
             };
         })
     });
+    let handle = ScriptVarHandlerHandle { msg_send, thread_handle };
     handle
 }
 
 /// Handle to the script-var handling system.
 pub struct ScriptVarHandlerHandle {
     msg_send: UnboundedSender<ScriptVarHandlerMsg>,
+    thread_handle: std::thread::JoinHandle<()>,
 }
 
 impl ScriptVarHandlerHandle {
@@ -85,6 +86,10 @@ impl ScriptVarHandlerHandle {
             self.msg_send.send(ScriptVarHandlerMsg::StopAll)
         );
     }
+
+    pub fn join_thread(self) {
+        let _ = self.thread_handle.join();
+    }
 }
 
 /// Message enum used by the ScriptVarHandlerHandle to communicate to the ScriptVarHandler
@@ -110,17 +115,17 @@ impl ScriptVarHandler {
     }
 
     /// Stop the handler that is responsible for a given variable.
-    fn stop_for_variable(&mut self, name: &VarName) -> Result<()> {
+    async fn stop_for_variable(&mut self, name: &VarName) -> Result<()> {
         log::debug!("Stopping script var process for variable {}", name);
-        self.listen_handler.stop_for_variable(name);
+        self.listen_handler.stop_for_variable(name).await;
         self.poll_handler.stop_for_variable(name);
         Ok(())
     }
 
     /// stop all running scripts and schedules
-    fn stop_all(&mut self) {
+    async fn stop_all(&mut self) {
         log::debug!("Stopping script-var-handlers");
-        self.listen_handler.stop_all();
+        self.listen_handler.stop_all().await;
         self.poll_handler.stop_all();
     }
 }
@@ -197,7 +202,7 @@ impl Drop for PollVarHandler {
 
 struct ListenVarHandler {
     evt_send: UnboundedSender<DaemonCommand>,
-    listen_process_handles: HashMap<VarName, CancellationToken>,
+    listen_process_handles: HashMap<VarName, cancellation::AwaitableCancelationSender>,
 }
 
 impl ListenVarHandler {
@@ -216,8 +221,8 @@ impl ListenVarHandler {
             return;
         }
 
-        let cancellation_token = CancellationToken::new();
-        self.listen_process_handles.insert(var.name.clone(), cancellation_token.clone());
+        let (cancel_send, mut cancel_recv) = cancellation::create();
+        self.listen_process_handles.insert(var.name.clone(), cancel_send.clone());
 
         let evt_send = self.evt_send.clone();
         tokio::spawn(async move {
@@ -235,9 +240,13 @@ impl ListenVarHandler {
                 };
                 let mut stdout_lines = BufReader::new(handle.stdout.take().unwrap()).lines();
                 let mut stderr_lines = BufReader::new(handle.stderr.take().unwrap()).lines();
+                let mut completion_notify = None;
                 crate::loop_select_exiting! {
                     _ = handle.wait() => break,
-                    _ = cancellation_token.cancelled() => break,
+                    notify = cancel_recv.wait_for_cancel() => {
+                        completion_notify = notify;
+                        break;
+                    }
                     Ok(Some(line)) = stdout_lines.next_line() => {
                         let new_value = DynVal::from_string(line.to_owned());
                         evt_send.send(DaemonCommand::UpdateVars(vec![(var.name.to_owned(), new_value)]))?;
@@ -246,32 +255,42 @@ impl ListenVarHandler {
                         log::warn!("stderr of `{}`: {}", var.name, line);
                     }
                     else => break,
-                }
+                };
                 terminate_handle(handle).await;
+
+                if let Some(completion_notify) = completion_notify {
+                    completion_notify.completed().await;
+                }
             });
         });
     }
 
-    fn stop_for_variable(&mut self, name: &VarName) {
+    async fn stop_for_variable(&mut self, name: &VarName) {
         if let Some(token) = self.listen_process_handles.remove(name) {
             log::debug!("stopped listen-var {}", name);
-            token.cancel();
+            token.cancel().await;
         }
     }
 
-    fn stop_all(&mut self) {
-        self.listen_process_handles.drain().for_each(|(_, token)| token.cancel());
+    async fn stop_all(&mut self) {
+        for (_, token) in self.listen_process_handles.drain() {
+            token.cancel().await;
+        }
     }
 }
 
 impl Drop for ListenVarHandler {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
-        self.stop_all();
+        let rt = tokio::runtime::Runtime::new().expect("Failed to initialize tokio runtime for script var handlers");
+        rt.block_on(async {
+            self.stop_all().await;
+        });
     }
 }
 
 async fn terminate_handle(mut child: tokio::process::Child) {
     if let Some(id) = child.id() {
+        log::debug!("Killing process with id {}", id);
         let _ = signal::killpg(Pid::from_raw(id as i32), signal::SIGTERM);
         tokio::select! {
             _ = child.wait() => { },
@@ -283,3 +302,40 @@ async fn terminate_handle(mut child: tokio::process::Child) {
         let _ = child.kill().await;
     }
 }
+
+// Especially for listenvars, we want to make sure that the scripts are actually
+// cancelled before we kill the tokio task that they run in.
+// for that, we need to wait for the completion of the cancel itself
+/// Provides a CancellationToken-like object that allows to wait for completion of the cancellation.
+mod cancellation {
+    pub(super) struct CancelCompletionNotifier(tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<()>);
+    impl CancelCompletionNotifier {
+        pub async fn completed(self) {
+            crate::print_result_err!("Sending cancellation completion", self.0.send(()).await);
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub(super) struct AwaitableCancelationReceiver(tokio::sync::mpsc::Receiver<CancelCompletionNotifier>);
+
+    impl AwaitableCancelationReceiver {
+        pub(super) async fn wait_for_cancel(&mut self) -> Option<CancelCompletionNotifier> {
+            self.0.recv().await
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[derive(Clone)]
+    pub(super) struct AwaitableCancelationSender(tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<CancelCompletionNotifier>);
+    impl AwaitableCancelationSender {
+        pub(super) async fn cancel(&self) {
+            let (send, mut recv) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel(1);
+            if self.0.send(CancelCompletionNotifier(send)).await.is_ok() {
+                let _ = recv.recv().await;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub(super) fn create() -> (AwaitableCancelationSender, AwaitableCancelationReceiver) {
+        let (send, recv) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel(1);
+        (AwaitableCancelationSender(send), AwaitableCancelationReceiver(recv))
+    }
+}