diff --git a/Modules/_io/bufferedio.c b/Modules/_io/bufferedio.c
index 6bb2200..ae4af9d 100644
--- a/Modules/_io/bufferedio.c
+++ b/Modules/_io/bufferedio.c
@@ -1196,8 +1196,7 @@
         Py_CLEAR(res);
         goto end;
     }
-    Py_CLEAR(res);
-    res = _PyBytes_Join(_PyIO_empty_bytes, chunks);
+    Py_SETREF(res, _PyBytes_Join(_PyIO_empty_bytes, chunks));
 
 end:
     LEAVE_BUFFERED(self)
@@ -1452,9 +1451,8 @@
     if (_PyIOBase_check_readable(raw, Py_True) == NULL)
         return -1;
 
-    Py_CLEAR(self->raw);
     Py_INCREF(raw);
-    self->raw = raw;
+    Py_SETREF(self->raw, raw);
     self->buffer_size = buffer_size;
     self->readable = 1;
     self->writable = 0;
@@ -1805,9 +1803,8 @@
     if (_PyIOBase_check_writable(raw, Py_True) == NULL)
         return -1;
 
-    Py_CLEAR(self->raw);
     Py_INCREF(raw);
-    self->raw = raw;
+    Py_SETREF(self->raw, raw);
     self->readable = 0;
     self->writable = 1;
 
@@ -2309,9 +2306,8 @@
     if (_PyIOBase_check_writable(raw, Py_True) == NULL)
         return -1;
 
-    Py_CLEAR(self->raw);
     Py_INCREF(raw);
-    self->raw = raw;
+    Py_SETREF(self->raw, raw);
     self->buffer_size = buffer_size;
     self->readable = 1;
     self->writable = 1;