diff --git a/warcprox/controller.py b/warcprox/controller.py
index e198006..1850857 100644
--- a/warcprox/controller.py
+++ b/warcprox/controller.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import logging
 import threading
 import time
 import warcprox
+import sys
+import gc
 
 class WarcproxController(object):
     logger = logging.getLogger("warcprox.controller.WarcproxController")
@@ -50,10 +52,48 @@ class WarcproxController(object):
         self.stop = threading.Event()
 
         try:
+            t = time.time() - 30 
             while not self.stop.is_set():
                 time.sleep(0.5)
+                if time.time() - t > 60:
+                    num_unreachable = gc.collect()
+                    all_objects = gc.get_objects()
+                    total_size = 0
+                    summary = {}
+                    biggest_objects = [None] * 10
+                    for obj in all_objects:
+                        size = sys.getsizeof(obj)
+                        total_size += size
+                        if not type(obj) in summary:
+                            summary[type(obj)] = {"count":0,"size":0}
+                        summary[type(obj)]["count"] += 1
+                        summary[type(obj)]["size"] += size
+                        if size > sys.getsizeof(biggest_objects[-1]):
+                            for i in range(len(biggest_objects)):
+                                if size > sys.getsizeof(biggest_objects[i]):
+                                    index = i 
+                                    break
+                            biggest_objects[index+1:] = biggest_objects[index:-1]
+                            biggest_objects[index] = obj
+                    
+                    self.logger.info("%s objects totaling %s bytes", len(all_objects), total_size)
+                    for item in sorted(summary.items(), key=lambda item: item[1]["size"], reverse=True)[:10]:
+                        self.logger.info("%s bytes in %s instances of %s", item[1]["size"], item[1]["count"], item[0])
+                    for i in range(len(biggest_objects)):
+                        obj = biggest_objects[i]
+                        try:
+                            value = repr(bytes(obj.getbuffer()[:100]))
+                        except:
+                            try:
+                                value = repr(obj)[:100]
+                            except BaseException as e:
+                                value = "<{} getting value>".format(e)
+                        self.logger.info("#%s (%s) (%s bytes) (%s refs) (id=%s): %s", i+1, type(obj), sys.getsizeof(obj), sys.getrefcount(obj), id(obj), value)
+                    self.logger.info("%s unreachable objects totaling %s bytes", len(gc.garbage), sum(sys.getsizeof(x) for x in gc.garbage))
+
+                    t = time.time()
         except:
-            self.logger.critical("fatal exception, shutting down", exc_info=1)
+            self.logger.critical("fatal exception, shutting down", exc_info=True)
             pass
         finally:
             self.warc_writer_thread.stop.set()
diff --git a/warcprox/warcproxy.py b/warcprox/warcproxy.py
index 01f94cd..b4d541a 100644
--- a/warcprox/warcproxy.py
+++ b/warcprox/warcproxy.py
@@ -115,7 +115,6 @@ class ProxyingRecorder(object):
         else:
             return 0
 
-
 class ProxyingRecordingHTTPResponse(http_client.HTTPResponse):
 
     def __init__(self, sock, debuglevel=0, method=None, proxy_dest=None, digest_algorithm='sha1', url=None):
@@ -351,11 +350,10 @@ class RecordedUrl:
         self.host = host
         self.duration = duration
 
-    def __del__(self):
-        self.logger.debug("finished with %s", self)
-        if self.response_recorder:
-            self.response_recorder.tempfile.close()
-            self.response_recorder = None
+    # def __del__(self):
+    #     self.logger.debug("finished with %s", self)
+    #     if self.response_recorder:
+    #         del self.response_recorder
 
 
 class SingleThreadedWarcProxy(http_server.HTTPServer):
diff --git a/warcprox/writerthread.py b/warcprox/writerthread.py
index 8da6c11..a95a68f 100644
--- a/warcprox/writerthread.py
+++ b/warcprox/writerthread.py
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ class WarcWriterThread(threading.Thread):
                                 recorded_url, base32=self.options.base32)
                     records = self.writer_pool.write_records(recorded_url)
                     self._final_tasks(recorded_url, records)
+
+                    # try to release resources in a timely fashion
+                    if recorded_url.response_recorder and recorded_url.response_recorder.tempfile:
+                        recorded_url.response_recorder.tempfile.close()
                 except queue.Empty:
                     self.idle = time.time()
                     self.writer_pool.maybe_idle_rollover()