diff --git a/dotbot/plugins/clean.py b/dotbot/plugins/clean.py
index 7e6cba1..22c975e 100644
--- a/dotbot/plugins/clean.py
+++ b/dotbot/plugins/clean.py
@@ -34,11 +34,11 @@ class Clean(dotbot.Plugin):
         Cleans all the broken symbolic links in target if they point to
         a subdirectory of the base directory or if forced to clean.
         '''
-        if not os.path.isdir(os.path.expanduser(target)):
+        if not os.path.isdir(os.path.expandvars(os.path.expanduser(target))):
             self._log.debug('Ignoring nonexistent directory %s' % target)
             return True
-        for item in os.listdir(os.path.expanduser(target)):
-            path = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser(target), item)
+        for item in os.listdir(os.path.expandvars(os.path.expanduser(target))):
+            path = os.path.join(os.path.expandvars(os.path.expanduser(target)), item)
             if not os.path.exists(path) and os.path.islink(path):
                 points_at = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(path), os.readlink(path))
                 if self._in_directory(path, self._context.base_directory()) or force:
diff --git a/test/tests/clean-environment-variable-expansion.bash b/test/tests/clean-environment-variable-expansion.bash
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fedab45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tests/clean-environment-variable-expansion.bash
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+test_description='clean expands environment variables'
+. '../test-lib.bash'
+
+test_expect_success 'setup' '
+ln -s ${DOTFILES}/f ~/.f
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'run' '
+run_dotbot <<EOF
+- clean: ["\$HOME"]
+EOF
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'test' '
+! test -h ~/.f
+'