diff --git a/django/conf/__init__.py b/django/conf/__init__.py
index a3e2f03234..8964b1bfb3 100644
--- a/django/conf/__init__.py
+++ b/django/conf/__init__.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import time     # Needed for Windows
 import warnings
 
 from django.conf import global_settings
-from django.utils.functional import LazyObject
+from django.utils.functional import LazyObject, empty
 from django.utils import importlib
 
 ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE = "DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE"
@@ -47,19 +47,19 @@ class LazySettings(LazyObject):
         parameter sets where to retrieve any unspecified values from (its
         argument must support attribute access (__getattr__)).
         """
-        if self._wrapped != None:
+        if self._wrapped is not empty:
             raise RuntimeError('Settings already configured.')
         holder = UserSettingsHolder(default_settings)
         for name, value in options.items():
             setattr(holder, name, value)
         self._wrapped = holder
 
+    @property
     def configured(self):
         """
         Returns True if the settings have already been configured.
         """
-        return bool(self._wrapped)
-    configured = property(configured)
+        return self._wrapped is not empty
 
 
 class BaseSettings(object):
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/staticfiles_tests/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/staticfiles_tests/tests.py
index 8ecae8b92c..91074eb2fd 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/staticfiles_tests/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/staticfiles_tests/tests.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from django.core.files.storage import default_storage
 from django.core.management import call_command
 from django.test import TestCase
 from django.utils.encoding import smart_unicode
+from django.utils.functional import empty
 from django.utils._os import rmtree_errorhandler
 
 
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ class StaticFilesTestCase(TestCase):
         # Clear the cached default_storage out, this is because when it first
         # gets accessed (by some other test), it evaluates settings.MEDIA_ROOT,
         # since we're planning on changing that we need to clear out the cache.
-        default_storage._wrapped = None
+        default_storage._wrapped = empty
 
         # To make sure SVN doesn't hangs itself with the non-ASCII characters
         # during checkout, we actually create one file dynamically.