diff --git a/spec/homesick_spec.rb b/spec/homesick_spec.rb
index 758b4d5..672a223 100644
--- a/spec/homesick_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/homesick_spec.rb
@@ -1,8 +1,13 @@
 require 'spec_helper' 
 
 describe "homesick" do
+  let(:home) { create_construct }
+  after { home.destroy! }
+
+  let(:castles) { home.directory(".homesick/repos") }
+
   let(:homesick) { Homesick.new }
-  before { silence! }
+  before { homesick.stub!(:repos_dir).and_return(castles) }
 
   describe "clone" do
     context "of a file" do
@@ -12,13 +17,13 @@ describe "homesick" do
 
         homesick.clone local_repo
 
-        @repos_dir.join("wtf").readlink.should == local_repo
+        castles.join("wtf").readlink.should == local_repo
       end
 
       context "when it exists in a repo directory" do
         before do
-          @existing_castle = given_castle("existing_castle")
-          @existing_dir = @existing_castle.parent
+          existing_castle = given_castle("existing_castle")
+          @existing_dir = existing_castle.parent
         end
 
         it "should not symlink" do
@@ -88,7 +93,7 @@ describe "homesick" do
 
       homesick.symlink("glencairn")
 
-      @user_dir.join(".some_dotfile").readlink.should == dotfile
+      home.join(".some_dotfile").readlink.should == dotfile
     end
 
     it "links non-dotfiles from a castle to the home folder" do
@@ -96,7 +101,7 @@ describe "homesick" do
 
       homesick.symlink("glencairn")
 
-      @user_dir.join("bin").readlink.should == dotfile
+      home.join("bin").readlink.should == dotfile
     end
 
   end
@@ -127,7 +132,7 @@ describe "homesick" do
     it "should move the tracked file into the castle" do
       castle = given_castle('castle_repo')
 
-      some_rc_file = @user_dir.file '.some_rc_file'
+      some_rc_file = home.file '.some_rc_file'
 
       homesick.track(some_rc_file.to_s, 'castle_repo')
 
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 1fd645c..498bbab 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -8,24 +8,16 @@ require 'construct'
 RSpec.configure do |config|
   config.include Construct::Helpers
 
-  config.before do
-    @user_dir = create_construct
-    ENV['HOME'] = @user_dir.to_s
+  config.before { ENV['HOME'] = home.to_s }
 
-    @repos_dir = @user_dir.directory(".homesick/repos")
-    homesick.stub!(:repos_dir).and_return(@repos_dir)
-  end
-
-  config.after do
-    @user_dir.destroy!
-  end
+  config.before { silence! }
 
   def silence!
     homesick.stub(:say_status)
   end
 
   def given_castle(name, path=name)
-    @repos_dir.directory(path) do |castle|
+    castles.directory(path) do |castle|
       Dir.chdir(castle) do
         system "git init >/dev/null 2>&1"
         system "git remote add origin git://github.com/technicalpickles/#{name}.git >/dev/null 2>&1"