diff --git a/core/prelude-editor.el b/core/prelude-editor.el
index cb137ec..8e54be4 100644
--- a/core/prelude-editor.el
+++ b/core/prelude-editor.el
@@ -218,8 +218,14 @@
   (when (and prelude-flyspell (executable-find ispell-program-name))
     (flyspell-mode +1)))
 
-(add-hook 'message-mode-hook 'prelude-enable-flyspell)
+(defun prelude-enable-whitespace ()
+  (when prelude-whitespace
+    ;; keep the whitespace decent all the time (in this buffer)
+    (add-hook 'before-save-hook 'whitespace-cleanup nil t)
+    (whitespace-mode +1)))
+
 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'prelude-enable-flyspell)
+(add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'prelude-enable-whitespace)
 
 ;; enable narrowing commands
 (put 'narrow-to-region 'disabled nil)
diff --git a/modules/prelude-programming.el b/modules/prelude-programming.el
index e3c9dd0..fbdd4be 100644
--- a/modules/prelude-programming.el
+++ b/modules/prelude-programming.el
@@ -116,10 +116,7 @@
     (flyspell-prog-mode))
   (when prelude-guru
     (guru-mode +1))
-  (when prelude-whitespace
-    ;; keep the whitespace decent all the time (in this buffer)
-    (add-hook 'before-save-hook 'whitespace-cleanup nil t)
-    (whitespace-mode +1))
+  (prelude-enable-whitespace)
   (flycheck-mode +1)
   (prelude-local-comment-auto-fill)
   (prelude-add-watchwords))