My current blocks folder is 7.97gb now, so you are right about the 8gb.
yes it's quite large , my #1 issue with it
If the size of the blockchain is an issue for you, then you probably shouldn't be running a full peer. It is only going to keep growing. By some estimates it will begin growing by about 1 megabyte every 10 minutes before the year is over. That would be growth of about 52.5 GB per year.
You may want to look into one of the "lightweight" wallets such as Electrum, MultiBit, or
https://blockchain.info/wallet