diff --git a/tests/app/test_cloudfoundry_config.py b/tests/app/test_cloudfoundry_config.py
index ccf238d49..8e1e5b158 100644
--- a/tests/app/test_cloudfoundry_config.py
+++ b/tests/app/test_cloudfoundry_config.py
@@ -26,13 +26,12 @@ def cloudfoundry_config(postgres_config):
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
-def cloudfoundry_environ(monkeypatch, cloudfoundry_config):
-    monkeypatch.setenv('VCAP_SERVICES', json.dumps(cloudfoundry_config))
-    monkeypatch.setenv('VCAP_APPLICATION', '{"space_name": "🚀🌌"}')
+def cloudfoundry_environ(os_environ, cloudfoundry_config):
+    os.environ['VCAP_SERVICES'] = json.dumps(cloudfoundry_config)
+    os.environ['VCAP_APPLICATION'] = '{"space_name": "🚀🌌"}'
 
 
-@pytest.mark.usefixtures('os_environ', 'cloudfoundry_environ')
-def test_extract_cloudfoundry_config_populates_other_vars():
+def test_extract_cloudfoundry_config_populates_other_vars(cloudfoundry_environ):
     extract_cloudfoundry_config()
 
     assert os.environ['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] == 'postgres uri'
@@ -40,8 +39,7 @@ def test_extract_cloudfoundry_config_populates_other_vars():
     assert os.environ['NOTIFY_LOG_PATH'] == '/home/vcap/logs/app.log'
 
 
-@pytest.mark.usefixtures('os_environ', 'cloudfoundry_environ')
-def test_set_config_env_vars_ignores_unknown_configs(cloudfoundry_config):
+def test_set_config_env_vars_ignores_unknown_configs(cloudfoundry_config, cloudfoundry_environ):
     cloudfoundry_config['foo'] = {'credentials': {'foo': 'foo'}}
     cloudfoundry_config['user-provided'].append({
         'name': 'bar', 'credentials': {'bar': 'bar'}
diff --git a/tests/app/test_config.py b/tests/app/test_config.py
index 09a3aae7f..53c8aacea 100644
--- a/tests/app/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/app/test_config.py
@@ -21,16 +21,17 @@ def reload_config():
 
     yield
 
+    os.environ.clear()
     for k, v in old_env.items():
         os.environ[k] = v
 
     importlib.reload(config)
 
 
-def test_load_cloudfoundry_config_if_available(monkeypatch, reload_config):
+def test_load_cloudfoundry_config_if_available(reload_config):
     os.environ['ADMIN_BASE_URL'] = 'env'
-    monkeypatch.setenv('VCAP_SERVICES', 'some json blob')
-    monkeypatch.setenv('VCAP_APPLICATION', 'some json blob')
+    os.environ['VCAP_SERVICES'] = 'some json blob'
+    os.environ['VCAP_APPLICATION'] = 'some json blob'
 
     with mock.patch('app.cloudfoundry_config.extract_cloudfoundry_config', side_effect=cf_conf) as cf_config:
         # reload config so that its module level code (ie: all of it) is re-instantiated
@@ -42,10 +43,9 @@ def test_load_cloudfoundry_config_if_available(monkeypatch, reload_config):
     assert config.Config.ADMIN_BASE_URL == 'cf'
 
 
-def test_load_config_if_cloudfoundry_not_available(monkeypatch, reload_config):
+def test_load_config_if_cloudfoundry_not_available(reload_config):
     os.environ['ADMIN_BASE_URL'] = 'env'
-
-    monkeypatch.delenv('VCAP_SERVICES', raising=False)
+    os.environ.pop('VCAP_SERVICES', None)
 
     with mock.patch('app.cloudfoundry_config.extract_cloudfoundry_config') as cf_config:
         # reload config so that its module level code (ie: all of it) is re-instantiated
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 9892d9f29..b0a954ca8 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -130,14 +130,12 @@ def os_environ():
     """
     # for use whenever you expect code to edit environment variables
     old_env = os.environ.copy()
-
-    class EnvironDict(dict):
-        def __setitem__(self, key, value):
-            assert type(value) == str
-            super().__setitem__(key, value)
-
     os.environ.clear()
+
     yield
+
+    # clear afterwards in case anything extra was added to the environment during the test
+    os.environ.clear()
     for k, v in old_env.items():
         os.environ[k] = v