RAM blowing up

Consider downloading and running this little "discovery" utility, Etrecheck. It changes NOTHING. Etrecheck was developed by senior contributor here, and uses system calls to collect often-needed information.

it contains little tests for speeds of devices, CPU utilization, memory usage, energy usage and a digest of recent problems, in one easy to use package. it does not even need to be Installed. Because less can be learned when your Mac is running great, best time to run is when your problems are actually occurring, if possible.

if you follow the directions faithfully, its report (pre-laundered of all personally-identifiable information) can be "Shared" to the system ClipBoard, then Pasted into an ‘Additional Text’ window in a reply on the forums.

How to use Etrecheck Pro for free

http://etrecheck.com

Chrome is a known resource hog on both Windows and Mac notebook computers. And, regardless of browsers, I'm finding more and more sites that continue to exploit power and RAM when left open the the background. I can produce the effect on demand by forgetting to close an Amazon page when I'm done.

You could try the Brave browser if you don't like Safari. Brave has been described as "Chrome without the bloat."

Then got CleanMyMac (before reading from someone that they think it is malware)

Macs, catlike, clean themselves. The macOS needs no household help; it has been self-cleaning and self-maintaining for about 24 years, and the rest of the industry knows that.

So what does that make any app that claims to clean or otherwise tidy up an already tidy Mac?

Let your Mac be a Mac.