anyone else find doubling space in word more awkward than it should be?

For the whole document, Design tab, Paragraph Spacing, Double. If it still looks bigger than double, that's the spacing after each paragraph adding on top - set it to 0 in the paragraph box.

ctrl+2 on the selected text does it instantly. if it keeps reverting on new paragraphs, change the Normal style rather than the text - that's the setting everything inherits from.