diff --git a/bin/ip_address b/bin/ip_address
index c7dbf4f4..947b257f 100755
--- a/bin/ip_address
+++ b/bin/ip_address
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 PKG="byobu"
 
 if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
-	/sbin/ifconfig | grep "inet addr" | sed 's/^\s*//' | sed 's/\s*$//'
+	/sbin/ifconfig | grep "inet addr" | sed -e 's/^\s*//' -e 's/\s*$//'
 	exit 0
 fi
 
@@ -36,6 +36,6 @@ else
 	interface=`tail -n1 /proc/net/route  | awk '{print $1}'`
 fi
 
-ipaddr=`/sbin/ifconfig "$interface" | grep "inet addr:" | sed "s/^.*inet addr://" | sed "s/ .*$//"`
+ipaddr=`/sbin/ifconfig "$interface" | grep "inet addr:" | sed -e "s/^.*inet addr://" -e "s/ .*$//"`
 
 printf "%s\005{+b }%s\005{-}" "$space" "$ipaddr"
diff --git a/bin/mem_used b/bin/mem_used
index 355a92fd..01e4fcfc 100755
--- a/bin/mem_used
+++ b/bin/mem_used
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 #
-#    mem_used: grab the current memory used
+#    mem_used: grab the current memory usage
 #    Copyright (C) 2008 Canonical Ltd.
 #
 #    Authors: Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@canonical.com>
diff --git a/bin/temp_c b/bin/temp_c
index 57932315..290acb40 100755
--- a/bin/temp_c
+++ b/bin/temp_c
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
 fi
 
 for i in $MONITORED_TEMP `ls $DIR/*/temperature`; do
-	t=$(sed "s/^[^0-9]\+//" "$i" | sed "s/\s.*$//")
+	t=$(sed -e "s/^[^0-9]\+//" -e "s/\s.*$//" "$i")
 	printf "\005{=b kY}%s\005{-}\005{= kY}\260C\005{-} " "$t"
 	break
 done
diff --git a/bin/temp_f b/bin/temp_f
index 075696e6..c928e090 100755
--- a/bin/temp_f
+++ b/bin/temp_f
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
 	exit 0
 fi
 
-for i in $MONITORED_TEMP `ls $DIR/*/temperature`; do
-	t=$(sed "s/^[^0-9]\+//" "$i" | sed "s/\s.*$//" | awk '{printf "%.0f", $1 *9/5 + 32}')
+for i in `ls $DIR/*/temperature`; do
+	t=$(sed -e "s/^[^0-9]\+//" -e "s/\s.*$//" "$i" | awk '{printf "%.0f", $1 *9/5 + 32}')
 	printf "\005{=b kY}%s\005{-}\005{= kY}\260F\005{-} " "$t"
         break
 done
diff --git a/bin/wifi_quality b/bin/wifi_quality
index abf215ff..c1cf1e2a 100755
--- a/bin/wifi_quality
+++ b/bin/wifi_quality
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
 fi
 
 iwconfig=`/sbin/iwconfig 2>/dev/null`
-bitrate=`echo "$iwconfig" | grep "Bit Rate." | sed "s/^.*Bit Rate.//" | sed "s/ .*$//g"`
+bitrate=`echo "$iwconfig" | grep "Bit Rate." | sed -e "s/^.*Bit Rate.//" -e "s/ .*$//g"`
 [ -z "$bitrate" ] && bitrate="0"
-quality=`echo "$iwconfig" | grep "Link Quality=" | sed "s/^.*Link Quality=//" | sed "s/ .*$//g"`
+quality=`echo "$iwconfig" | grep "Link Quality=" | sed -e "s/^.*Link Quality=//" -e "s/ .*$//g"`
 echo | awk "{printf \"\005{=b Ck}%s\005{-}\005{= Ck}Mb/s,\005{-}\005{=b Ck}%d\005{-}\005{= Ck}%%\005{-} \", $bitrate, 100*$quality}"
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 3eef05d9..95eaf535 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -10,8 +10,12 @@ byobu (2.26) unreleased; urgency=low
   * bin/disk: fix up reading of MONITORED_DISK
   * byobu.1: update documentation for new .byobu/statusrc file
   * bin/ip_address: allow interface override
+  * bin/ip_address, bin/mem_used, bin/temp_c, bin/temp_f,
+    bin/wifi_quality: performance improvements, reduce the number of
+    forked shells by multiple sed-calls on one line by using a single
+    sed call with multiple -e arguments (thanks for the suggestion smoser)
 
- -- Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>  Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:12:48 -0500
+ -- Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>  Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:23:19 -0500
 
 byobu (2.25-0ubuntu1) karmic; urgency=low