diff --git a/scrapy/tests/test_commands.py b/scrapy/tests/test_commands.py
index 5811e287f..3f6d3ddd9 100644
--- a/scrapy/tests/test_commands.py
+++ b/scrapy/tests/test_commands.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ class ProjectTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.temp_path = mkdtemp()
         self.cwd = self.temp_path
+        self.proj_path = join(self.temp_path, self.project_name)
+        self.proj_mod_path = join(self.proj_path, self.project_name)
 
     def tearDown(self):
         rmtree(self.temp_path)
@@ -29,19 +31,16 @@ class ProjectTest(unittest.TestCase):
 class StartprojectTest(ProjectTest):
     
     def test_startproject(self):
-        proj_path = join(self.temp_path, self.project_name)
-        proj_mod_path = join(proj_path, self.project_name)
-
         ret = self.call(['startproject', self.project_name])
         self.assertEqual(ret, 0)
 
-        assert exists(join(proj_path, 'scrapy-ctl.py'))
-        assert exists(join(proj_path, 'testproject'))
-        assert exists(join(proj_mod_path, '__init__.py'))
-        assert exists(join(proj_mod_path, 'items.py'))
-        assert exists(join(proj_mod_path, 'pipelines.py'))
-        assert exists(join(proj_mod_path, 'settings.py'))
-        assert exists(join(proj_mod_path, 'spiders', '__init__.py'))
+        assert exists(join(self.proj_path, 'scrapy-ctl.py'))
+        assert exists(join(self.proj_path, 'testproject'))
+        assert exists(join(self.proj_mod_path, '__init__.py'))
+        assert exists(join(self.proj_mod_path, 'items.py'))
+        assert exists(join(self.proj_mod_path, 'pipelines.py'))
+        assert exists(join(self.proj_mod_path, 'settings.py'))
+        assert exists(join(self.proj_mod_path, 'spiders', '__init__.py'))
 
         ret = self.call(['startproject', self.project_name])
         self.assertEqual(ret, 1)
@@ -92,8 +91,7 @@ class BaseGenspiderTest(CommandTest):
         ret = self.call(['genspider', 'testspider', 'test.com',
                           '--template=%s' % self.template])
         self.assertEqual(ret, 0)
-        assert os.path.exists(join(self.cwd, self.project_name, 'spiders', \
-            'testspider.py'))
+        assert exists(join(self.proj_mod_path, 'spiders', 'testspider.py'))
 
         ret = self.call(['genspider', 'otherspider', 'test.com'])
         self.assertEqual(ret, 1)