diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9a8706c6..7c3ac429 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+- Fixes a bug where some location options did not accept yaml aliases
+  (#390, thanks for reporting @zany130).
+
 ## v3.2.4 (2024-07-07)
 
 - Fixes a bug preventing organize from starting (thanks @feather42).
diff --git a/organize/location.py b/organize/location.py
index 0bbc64c4..d30beda0 100644
--- a/organize/location.py
+++ b/organize/location.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-from typing import List, Literal, Set, Union
+from typing import List, Literal, Union
 
-from pydantic import ConfigDict, Field, field_validator
+from pydantic import ConfigDict, Field
 from pydantic.dataclasses import dataclass
 
-from .validators import FlatList
+from .validators import FlatList, FlatSet
 
 DEFAULT_SYSTEM_EXCLUDE_FILES = {
     "thumbs.db",
@@ -25,27 +25,14 @@ class Location:
     min_depth: int = 0
     max_depth: Union[Literal["inherit"], int, None] = "inherit"
     search: Literal["depth", "breadth"] = "breadth"
-    exclude_files: Set[str] = Field(default_factory=set)
-    exclude_dirs: Set[str] = Field(default_factory=set)
-    system_exclude_files: Set[str] = Field(
+    exclude_files: FlatSet[str] = Field(default_factory=set)
+    exclude_dirs: FlatSet[str] = Field(default_factory=set)
+    system_exclude_files: FlatSet[str] = Field(
         default_factory=lambda: DEFAULT_SYSTEM_EXCLUDE_FILES
     )
-    system_exclude_dirs: Set[str] = Field(
+    system_exclude_dirs: FlatSet[str] = Field(
         default_factory=lambda: DEFAULT_SYSTEM_EXCLUDE_DIRS
     )
     filter: Union[List[str], None] = None
     filter_dirs: Union[List[str], None] = None
     ignore_errors: bool = False
-
-    @field_validator(
-        "exclude_files",
-        "exclude_dirs",
-        "system_exclude_files",
-        "system_exclude_dirs",
-        mode="before",
-    )
-    @classmethod
-    def ensure_set(cls, value):
-        if isinstance(value, str):
-            return set([value])
-        return set(value)
diff --git a/organize/validators.py b/organize/validators.py
index ca4bd74a..258fb8bf 100644
--- a/organize/validators.py
+++ b/organize/validators.py
@@ -26,3 +26,4 @@ def flatten(x: Any):
 
 T = TypeVar("T")
 FlatList = Annotated[List[T], BeforeValidator(flatten)]
+FlatSet = Annotated[List[T], BeforeValidator(flatten)]