diff --git a/modules/prelude-c.el b/modules/prelude-c.el
index ab0a520..735154a 100644
--- a/modules/prelude-c.el
+++ b/modules/prelude-c.el
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@
 ;; java-mode, php-mode, etc
 (add-hook 'c-mode-common-hook 'prelude-c-mode-common-hook)
 
+(defun prelude-makefile-mode-hook ()
+  (setq indent-tabs-mode t)
+  (setq tab-width 4))
+
+(add-hook 'makefile-mode-hook 'prelude-makefile-mode-hook)
+
 (provide 'prelude-c)
 
 ;;; prelude-c.el ends here
diff --git a/modules/prelude-core.el b/modules/prelude-core.el
index f7e4c5a..0e18707 100644
--- a/modules/prelude-core.el
+++ b/modules/prelude-core.el
@@ -324,7 +324,9 @@ there's a region, all lines that region covers will be duplicated."
   (prelude-local-comment-auto-fill)
   (prelude-turn-on-whitespace)
   (prelude-turn-on-abbrev)
-  (prelude-add-watchwords))
+  (prelude-add-watchwords)
+  ;; keep the whitespace decent all the time
+  (add-hook 'before-save-hook 'whitespace-cleanup nil t))
 
 (defun prelude-untabify-buffer ()
   (interactive)
diff --git a/modules/prelude-editor.el b/modules/prelude-editor.el
index 41d0ad2..8033e51 100644
--- a/modules/prelude-editor.el
+++ b/modules/prelude-editor.el
@@ -169,9 +169,6 @@
 (require 'yasnippet)
 (yas/initialize)
 
-;; keep the whitespace decent all the time
-(add-hook 'before-save-hook 'whitespace-cleanup)
-
 ;; projectile is a project management mode
 (require 'projectile)
 (projectile-global-mode t)