Solve both of the problems in the OP by running a pruned node, and don't mine blocks. Then you can run your own node, and get all the flexibility and control it gives.
Running a pruned node "solves" the storage issue, but not the bandwidth and time it needs to sync, since it does download the entire blockchain. I'm running little test here and bitcoin-core seems to be using about 2.2gb of data with prune=550 so far (on year 2015)
Thankfully OP can just run a light wallet like Electrum and be done with it...
