diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
index 058a487..4e86f6d 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package Qpsmtpd;
 use strict;
-use vars qw($VERSION $Logger $TraceLevel $Spool_dir);
+use vars qw($VERSION $Logger $TraceLevel $Spool_dir $Size_threshold);
 
 use Sys::Hostname;
 use Qpsmtpd::Constants;
@@ -415,6 +415,15 @@ sub temp_dir {
   return $dirname;
 }
 
+sub size_threshold {
+  my $self = shift;
+  unless ( defined $Size_threshold ) {
+    $Size_threshold = $self->config('memory_threshold') || 10_000;
+    $self->log(LOGNOTICE, "size_threshold set to $Size_threshold");
+  }
+  return $Size_threshold;
+}
+  
 1;
 
 __END__
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/TcpServer.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/TcpServer.pm
index dcac57d..46022d7 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/TcpServer.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/TcpServer.pm
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ sub run {
     my $self = shift;
 
     # should be somewhere in Qpsmtpd.pm and not here...
-    $self->load_plugins;
+    $self->load_plugins unless $self->{hooks};
 
     my $rc = $self->start_conversation;
     return if $rc != DONE;
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
index a6dc3be..7221ecd 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
@@ -15,9 +15,6 @@ sub start {
   my %args = @_;
   my $self = { _rcpt => [], started => time };
   bless ($self, $class);
-  my $sz = $self->config('memory_threshold');
-  $sz = 10_000 unless defined($sz);
-  $self->{_size_threshold} = $sz;
   return $self;
 }
 
@@ -91,13 +88,27 @@ sub body_current_pos {
     return $self->{_body_current_pos} || 0;
 }
 
-# TODO - should we create the file here if we're storing as an array?
 sub body_filename {
   my $self = shift;
-  return unless $self->{_body_file};
+  $self->body_spool() unless $self->{_body_file};
   return $self->{_filename};
 }
 
+sub body_spool {
+  my $self = shift;
+  $self->log(LOGWARN, "spooling to disk");
+  $self->{_filename} = $self->temp_file();
+  $self->{_body_file} = IO::File->new($self->{_filename}, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0600)
+    or die "Could not open file $self->{_filename} - $! "; # . $self->{_body_file}->error;
+  if ($self->{_body_array}) {
+    foreach my $line (@{ $self->{_body_array} }) {
+      $self->{_body_file}->print($line) or die "Cannot print to temp file: $!";
+    }
+    $self->{_body_start} = $self->{_header_size};
+  }
+  $self->{_body_array} = undef;
+}
+
 sub body_write {
   my $self = shift;
   my $data = shift;
@@ -125,19 +136,7 @@ sub body_write {
       $self->{_body_size} += length($1);
       ++$self->{_body_current_pos};
     }
-    if ($self->{_body_size} >= $self->{_size_threshold}) {
-      #warn("spooling to disk\n");
-      $self->{_filename} = $self->temp_file();
-      $self->{_body_file} = IO::File->new($self->{_filename}, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0600)
-        or die "Could not open file $self->{_filename} - $! "; # . $self->{_body_file}->error;
-      if ($self->{_body_array}) {
-        foreach my $line (@{ $self->{_body_array} }) {
-          $self->{_body_file}->print($line) or die "Cannot print to temp file: $!";
-        }
-        $self->{_body_start} = $self->{_header_size};
-      }
-      $self->{_body_array} = undef;
-    }
+    $self->body_spool if ( $self->{_body_size} >= $self->size_threshold() );
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/qpsmtpd-forkserver b/qpsmtpd-forkserver
index 64f38d7..2d9d35b 100755
--- a/qpsmtpd-forkserver
+++ b/qpsmtpd-forkserver
@@ -169,6 +169,10 @@ if ($PID_FILE) {
   close PID;
 }
 
+# Populate class cached variables
+$qpsmtpd->spool_dir;
+$qpsmtpd->size_threshold;
+
 while (1) {
   REAPER();
   my $running = scalar keys %childstatus;