I use stow to manage my dotfiles. See How to use
section for more information.
If you want to learn how to manage dot files without the hassle then you might want to look at GNU stow.
A video on stow from DevInsideYou is very helpful if you want more details.
stow -nvSt ~ <directory>
once you are confident with the end result, remove n flag
stow -vSt ~ <directory>
use D instead of S for delete and R for restow.