Using 7GB of memory on startup with no apps running

Question

I have a 2009 macbook 13inch with 1TB HDD and 8GB Ram running yosemite, mavericks before it, and mavericks was not better or worse
it is constantly running out of memory
i have "memory clean" running (which is insanely good and free) so it flushes it out otherwise it would be unusable
when i start up it is using 7GB of memory, sometime a wee bit less but not much
the 2 biggest offenders are "backupd" and "kernel" processes. you see them in activity monitor
kernel is kind of fundamental and i believe that backupd is time machine
i killed backupd and now i have 4.25GB of memory used with only iTunes and safari open (1 tab - this one)
there are well over 100 process running just from startup probably closer to 150
cpu is using less than 15%
i have 160GB free on my HDD
so what is occurring? and how do i get it to behave like a normal macbook?
if your response starts with "i don't know, but". or any derivation there of, please stop typing and go a help an old person across the road :-)

Answer 1

Perhaps the CPU is stuck running cycles, trying to figure out how to restore
all those Caches and other important stuff you've used some third-party
unnecessary software to delete? By pre-loading many simple OS X tasks,
the system does well enough to take on chores for daily use on its own.
Has the Console utility's system logs shed some light on how this RAM is
being used? What of the limited info in Activity Monitor, which is less open
about where these resources have gone, than previous OS X versions?
You may see about some command-line interface sleuthing to get into OS X
underpinnings to check; there are several items in OS X  Developer library
to read up on. Helpful if you have more than one Mac and have a viable 2nd
computer not running the latest OS X just in case a new upgrade isn't a good
way to go just yet. Not all computer models appreciate a newest system install.
{If you have a backup from before the last upgrade of OS X, that may be an
idea to revert to that; a full system clone on external drive, a bootable copy,
is helpful to restore previous system function, or to offer a way back.}
Sometimes the system log files can help illuminate issues such as kernel
problems, and other hung processes that may hog CPU cycles, & RAM.
What brand of 'clean' have you been submitting your OS X hidden parts, to?
Some do more than clean, they toss out vital system parts & essential caches.
Maybe someone with command-line experience such as Linc Davis could
help you, if he sees your thread. If so, there are tedious testing intervals to
see what is going on; not necessarily to cure the issue but to outline a cause.
Diagnostic testing may be required to see if there are any hardware causes
to the symptoms; but a new installation may help. If the problems have been
saved in a Time Machine backup, then be aware you can re-introduce them
from there should you rely on that to restore your current system & files.
There are a few good ideas among these Guide pages to review:
http://www.thesafemac.com/tech-guides/
Are there excessive items in your startup files, and other extensions installed
that could account for wasted RAM and system resources? You may wish to
check that out and delete or disable those.
In any event...
Good luck & happy computing!