How do I avoid this: Transaction over size limit. Send for fee of 0.0005 BTC.

[Alizais]

It's been months since my last transaction (last transaction was June 30, 2013). Why was I forced to pay a fee of 0.0005 BTC to transfer BTC to myself when I've waited that long? I assume if I waited I could avoid that fee. I was only transferring 0.001 BTC.

Also, is it true that I need to download the encrypted transactions that has ever happened on the Bitcoin network? That every transaction that's ever happened since Bitcoin's inception is in my hard drive?

Thanks for any clarification. I could research the answers myself (and I have done so without really understanding what I was reading) but I thought the questions above would be good for meeting my one post requirement before I'm allowed to post in other topics.

[payb.tc]

question:

Why was I forced to pay a fee of 0.0005 BTC to transfer BTC to myself when I've waited that long?

answer:

I was only transferring 0.001 BTC.

...if you want free transactions, you're far more likely to succeed with larger amounts (i.e. > 1 BTC)

have you seen this article by the way http://www.bitcoinfees.com ?

[Alizais]

...if you want free transactions, you're far more likely to succeed with larger amounts (i.e. > 1 BTC)

Oh, I see. Cool, thanks!

have you seen this article by the way http://www.bitcoinfees.com ?

Nope, I haven't seen this article. Thanks for referring it; I'll be sure to read it!