diff --git a/spec/lib/diaspora_parser_spec.rb b/spec/lib/diaspora_parser_spec.rb
index 3b9e090f9bb23c01f223fb6e35fbfdb8204078f4..3504cfc7306ee6160e3c3e66764ce08a2b52da71 100644
--- a/spec/lib/diaspora_parser_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/diaspora_parser_spec.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe Diaspora::Parser do
   before do
-    @user = Factory.create(:user, :email => "bob@aol.com")
+    @user = Factory.create(:user)
     @aspect = @user.aspect(:name => 'spies')
 
     @user3 = Factory.create :user
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ describe Diaspora::Parser do
     end
 
      it 'should be able to correctly handle comments with person in db' do
-      person = Factory.create(:person, :diaspora_handle => "test@testing.com")
+      person = Factory.create(:person)
       post = Factory.create(:status_message, :person => @user.person)
       comment = Factory.build(:comment, :post => post, :person => person, :text => "Freedom!")
       xml = comment.to_diaspora_xml
diff --git a/spec/misc_spec.rb b/spec/misc_spec.rb
index 1db3f3f8296862921d3d9327f76bc4179a42882c..12f7837c14c7db6a06450299a7fe39b5aecf7fc6 100644
--- a/spec/misc_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/misc_spec.rb
@@ -5,34 +5,13 @@
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe 'making sure the spec runner works' do
-
-  it 'should not delete the database mid-spec' do
-    User.count.should == 0
-    Factory.create(:user)
-    User.count.should == 1
-  end
-
-  it 'should make sure the last user no longer exsists' do
-    User.count.should == 0
-  end
-
   it 'should factory create a user with a person saved' do
     user = Factory.create(:user)
     loaded_user = User.first(:id => user.id)
     loaded_user.person.owner_id.should == user.id
   end
-  describe 'testing a before do block' do
-    before do
-      Factory.create(:user)
 
-    end
-
-    it 'should have cleaned before the before do block runs' do
-      User.count.should == 1
-    end
-
-  end
-  describe '#friend_users' do
+   describe '#friend_users' do
     before do
       @user1 = Factory.create(:user)
       @aspect1 = @user1.aspect(:name => "losers")
diff --git a/spec/models/comments_spec.rb b/spec/models/comments_spec.rb
index b2f2d3c6158802956ec22790fcccbf70e630d59c..08252ada2789f24e413d66d9940440914f4d3696 100644
--- a/spec/models/comments_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/comments_spec.rb
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ describe Comment do
       status.comments.should == []
 
       @user.comment "Yeah, it was great", :on => status
-      StatusMessage.first.comments.first.text.should == "Yeah, it was great"
+      status.reload.comments.first.text.should == "Yeah, it was great"
     end
 
     it "should be able to comment on a person's status" do
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ describe Comment do
       status = Factory.create(:status_message, :person => person)
       @user.comment "sup dog", :on => status
 
-      StatusMessage.first.comments.first.text.should == "sup dog"
-      StatusMessage.first.comments.first.person.should == @user.person
+      status.reload.comments.first.text.should == "sup dog"
+      status.reload.comments.first.person.should == @user.person
     end
 
     it 'should not send out comments when we have no people' do
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 552fd884da34e1119246a4cb5b354f01ea121a77..9bc58c2e65ab046851ba0311d966178066546b15 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -27,19 +27,14 @@ RSpec.configure do |config|
 
   config.before(:suite) do
     DatabaseCleaner.clean_with(:truncation)
+    DatabaseCleaner.clean
     stub_signature_verification
-
   end
 
   config.before(:each) do
-    DatabaseCleaner.start
     stub_sockets
     User.stub!(:allowed_email?).and_return(:true)
   end
-
-  config.after(:each) do
-    DatabaseCleaner.clean
-  end
 end
 
 ImageUploader.enable_processing = false