diff --git a/modules/homelab/motd/default.nix b/modules/homelab/motd/default.nix
index f4e4c3a..b55331a 100644
--- a/modules/homelab/motd/default.nix
+++ b/modules/homelab/motd/default.nix
@@ -24,11 +24,11 @@ in {
     environment.etc."motd".text = ''
       #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-      active="\033[1;34m"
-      inactive="\033[1;31m"
-      headings="\033[1;35m"
-      bold="\e[1m"
-      reset="\033[0m"
+      active=$'\033[1;34m'
+      inactive=$'\033[1;31m'
+      headings=$'\033[1;35m'
+      bold=$'\e[1m'
+      reset=$'\033[0m'
       memory=`free -m | awk 'NR==2{printf "%s/%sMB (%.2f%%)\n", $3,$2,$3*100 / $2 }'`
       load1=`cat /proc/loadavg | awk {'print $1'}`
       load5=`cat /proc/loadavg | awk {'print $2'}`
@@ -62,13 +62,13 @@ in {
       ${lib.concatStringsSep "\n" (map (service: ''
           if systemctl list-units --type=service --all | grep -q "${service}"; then
             status=$(systemctl is-active ${service} 2>/dev/null)
-            if [ "''${status}" = "active" ]; then
-              echo -e "  ''${active}${service}''${reset} - running"
+            if [ "$status" = "active" ]; then
+                printf "%-15s %s%s\n" "''${active}${service}''${reset}" "running"
             else
-              echo -e "  ''${inactive}${service}''${reset} - not running"
+                printf "%-15s %s%s\n" "''${active}${service}''${reset}" "not running"
             fi
           else
-            echo -e "  ''${inactive}${service}''${reset} - not found"
+              printf "%-15s %s%s\n" "''${active}${service}''${reset}" "not found"
           fi
         '')
         motd_list)}