diff --git a/.env.sample b/.env.sample
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cb16b3d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.sample
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+SECRET_KEY_BASE="big long secret that you can create using 'rake secret'"
+SMTP_USER_NAME="username"
+SMTP_PASSWORD="this_is_not_the_password"
+SMTP_ADDRESS="somedomain.com"
+SMTP_DOMAIN="somedomain.com"
+SMTP_PORT="465"
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 8bb0be8f..bc52f1f3 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ gem 'pdf-inspector', require: 'pdf/inspector'
 gem 'log4r'
 
 # Load ENV from a `.env` file`
-gem 'dotenv'
+gem 'dotenv-rails'
 
 # Automatically create text emails from HTML ones
 gem 'premailer-rails'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 3b214889..2c4b198d 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ GEM
       addressable
     diff-lcs (1.2.5)
     dotenv (2.1.2)
+    dotenv-rails (2.1.2)
+      dotenv (= 2.1.2)
+      railties (>= 3.2, < 5.1)
     erubis (2.7.0)
     execjs (2.7.0)
     factory_girl (4.8.0)
@@ -299,6 +302,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   carrierwave
   country_select
   dotenv
+  dotenv-rails
   execjs
   factory_girl_rails
   faker
@@ -329,4 +333,4 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   uglifier (>= 1.3.0)
 
 BUNDLED WITH
-   1.15.3
+   1.16.0
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ca43722c..5a06aae0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,12 +14,7 @@ If you are running this project in production you'll need to set environment var
 
 ## Email Setup
 
-If you're using SMTP to send emails, set the required ENV variables in config/secrets.yml or create a hidden file /[your repo]/.env (and do not add it to the repository) that overrides the values you want to set like so:
-
-```sh
-SMTP_PASSWORD='this_is_not_the_password'
-# ... more values as you need
-```
+If you're using SMTP to send emails, create a hidden file `.env` (it is already ignored by git) that overrides the values you want to set. See `.env.sample` for an example.
 
 ## Event-Specific Setup (do this every year)