I have taken your suggestion. If I were to delete all of the block files (blk00000.dat, blk00001.dat, blk00002, etc.) would the program start the block loading over, only consuming less space?
No. Do not delete any files. That will corrupt the databases and require you to redownload and verify the entire blockchain.
Just set the line I told you to set and restart Core. It will do everything automatically. If it is not, then you have created the file incorrectly. In that case, make sure the file is just
bitcoin.conf. Make sure there is no extension like .txt on the file. If you are using windows, you should enable the "Show File Extensions" option so you can see the entire filename.