diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16f0df7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+*.log
+.restic-password
+backups.sh
+restic-excludes.txt
+rsync-manifest.conf
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backup-logs/logFilesGoHere.txt b/backup-logs/logFilesGoHere.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/backup-logs/placeholder.md b/backup-logs/placeholder.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 07a0eb7..0000000
--- a/backup-logs/placeholder.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Placeholder so `backup-logs` pushes to repo. Feel free to delete.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/templates/backups-template.sh b/templates/backups-template.sh
index 1f6b21b..bff943d 100644
--- a/templates/backups-template.sh
+++ b/templates/backups-template.sh
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ restic backup --verbose \
   -r "${RESTIC_REPO_01}" \
   --tag "${RESTIC_TAG_01}" --tag "${RESTIC_TAG_02}" \
   --exclude-caches \
-  --exclude-file=$RESTIC_EXCLUDES_01
+  --exclude-file="${RESTIC_EXCLUDES_01}" \
   "${RESTIC_SOURCE_01}"
 
 # Now we forget snapshots and prune data for the same tags in the repo
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ restic backup --verbose \
   -r "${RESTIC_REPO_02}" \
   --tag "${RESTIC_TAG_03}" --tag "${RESTIC_TAG_04}" \
   --exclude-caches \
-  --exclude-file=$RESTIC_EXCLUDES_02
+  --exclude-file="${RESTIC_EXCLUDES_02}" \
   "${RESTIC_SOURCE_02}"
 
 restic forget --prune --tag tag3,tag4 \