diff --git a/hamlpy/test/__init__.py b/hamlpy/test/__init__.py
index e69de29..3fe04cc 100644
--- a/hamlpy/test/__init__.py
+++ b/hamlpy/test/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import django
+import os
+
+
+os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'hamlpy.test.settings'
+django.setup()
diff --git a/hamlpy/test/settings.py b/hamlpy/test/settings.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..129d6e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hamlpy/test/settings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import django
+
+from distutils.version import StrictVersion
+
+DEBUG = True
+
+DATABASES = {}
+
+INSTALLED_APPS = ('hamlpy',)
+
+TEMPLATE_DIR = 'hamlpy/test/templates'
+TEMPLATE_LOADERS = [
+    'hamlpy.template.loaders.HamlPyFilesystemLoader',
+    'hamlpy.template.loaders.HamlPyAppDirectoriesLoader',
+    'django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader',
+    'django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader'
+]
+
+if StrictVersion(django.get_version()) >= StrictVersion('1.8'):
+    TEMPLATES = [
+        {
+            'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
+            'DIRS': [TEMPLATE_DIR],
+            'OPTIONS': {'loaders': TEMPLATE_LOADERS, 'debug': True}
+        }
+    ]
+else:
+    TEMPLATE_DIRS = [TEMPLATE_DIR]
+    TEMPLATE_LOADERS = TEMPLATE_LOADERS
+    TEMPLATE_DEBUG = True
+
+SECRET_KEY = 'tots top secret'
diff --git a/hamlpy/test/test_loader.py b/hamlpy/test/test_loader.py
index 61c13ab..6e2c0f2 100644
--- a/hamlpy/test/test_loader.py
+++ b/hamlpy/test/test_loader.py
@@ -1,58 +1,37 @@
 from __future__ import print_function, unicode_literals
 
-import django
 import mock
 import pytest
-import unittest
 
-from distutils.version import StrictVersion
-from django.conf import settings
 from django.template import TemplateDoesNotExist
 from django.template.loader import render_to_string
+from django.test import SimpleTestCase
 from django.test.utils import override_settings
 from six.moves import reload_module
 
 from hamlpy.compiler import Compiler
+from hamlpy.template import loaders
 
 
-TEMPLATE_DIR = 'hamlpy/test/templates'
-TEMPLATE_LOADERS = [
-    'hamlpy.template.loaders.HamlPyFilesystemLoader',
-    'hamlpy.template.loaders.HamlPyAppDirectoriesLoader',
-    'django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader',
-    'django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader'
-]
-
-if StrictVersion(django.get_version()) >= StrictVersion('1.8'):
-    settings.configure(TEMPLATES=[
-        {
-            'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
-            'DIRS': [TEMPLATE_DIR],
-            'OPTIONS': {'loaders': TEMPLATE_LOADERS, 'debug': True}
-        }
-    ])
-else:
-    settings.configure(TEMPLATE_DIRS=[TEMPLATE_DIR], TEMPLATE_LOADERS=TEMPLATE_LOADERS, TEMPLATE_DEBUG=True)
-
-django.setup()
-
+class LoaderTest(SimpleTestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(LoaderTest, self).setUp()
 
-class LoaderTest(unittest.TestCase):
-    def tearDown(self):
-        from hamlpy.template import loaders
         reload_module(loaders)
 
-    @mock.patch('hamlpy.compiler.Compiler', wraps=Compiler)
-    def test_compiler_settings(self, mock_compiler_class):
+    @mock.patch('hamlpy.template.loaders.Compiler', wraps=Compiler)
+    def test_compiler_default_settings(self, mock_compiler_class):
         render_to_string('simple.hamlpy')
 
         mock_compiler_class.assert_called_once_with(options={})
         mock_compiler_class.reset_mock()
 
-        with override_settings(HAMLPY_ATTR_WRAPPER='"', HAMLPY_DJANGO_INLINE_STYLE=False):
-            from hamlpy.template import loaders
-            reload_module(loaders)
+    @override_settings(HAMLPY_ATTR_WRAPPER='"', HAMLPY_DJANGO_INLINE_STYLE=False)
+    def test_compiler_settings(self):
+
+        reload_module(loaders)
 
+        with mock.patch('hamlpy.template.loaders.Compiler', wraps=Compiler) as mock_compiler_class:
             rendered = render_to_string('simple.hamlpy')
 
             mock_compiler_class.assert_called_once_with(options={
diff --git a/hamlpy/test/test_templatize.py b/hamlpy/test/test_templatize.py
index 5126544..278a5b2 100644
--- a/hamlpy/test/test_templatize.py
+++ b/hamlpy/test/test_templatize.py
@@ -1,16 +1,11 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
-import unittest
+from django.test import SimpleTestCase
 
-from hamlpy import Config
 
-
-class TemplatizeTest(unittest.TestCase):
+class TemplatizeTest(SimpleTestCase):
 
     def test_templatize(self):
-        # patching of Django's templatize happens when our app is loaded
-        Config.ready(None)
-
         from django.utils.translation import templatize
 
         # test regular Django tags