diff --git a/src/dunst.c b/src/dunst.c
index d2893f9..b036500 100644
--- a/src/dunst.c
+++ b/src/dunst.c
@@ -61,6 +61,13 @@ void check_timeouts(void)
         while (iter) {
                 notification *n = iter->data;
 
+                /*
+                 * Update iter to the next item before we either exit the
+                 * current iteration of the loop or potentially delete the
+                 * notification which would invalidate the pointer.
+                 */
+                iter = iter->next;
+
                 /* don't timeout when user is idle */
                 if (x_is_idle()) {
                         n->start = time(NULL);
@@ -72,9 +79,6 @@ void check_timeouts(void)
                         continue;
                 }
 
-                /* shift iter before we possibly delete the current notification */
-                iter = iter->next;
-
                 /* remove old message */
                 if (difftime(time(NULL), n->start) > n->timeout) {
                         notification_close(n, 1);