diff --git a/bird/bird.go b/bird/bird.go
index 0fb8195..c606cff 100644
--- a/bird/bird.go
+++ b/bird/bird.go
@@ -16,20 +16,20 @@ import (
 type Cache interface {
 	Set(key string, val Parsed, ttl int) error
 	Get(key string) (Parsed, error)
+	Expire() int
 }
 
 var ClientConf BirdConfig
 var StatusConf StatusConfig
 var IPVersion = "4"
 var cache Cache // stores parsed birdc output
+var CacheConf CacheConfig
 var RateLimitConf struct {
 	sync.RWMutex
 	Conf RateLimitConfig
 }
 var RunQueue sync.Map // queue birdc commands before execution
 
-var CacheRedis *RedisCache
-
 var NilParse Parsed = (Parsed)(nil) // special Parsed values
 var BirdError Parsed = Parsed{"error": "bird unreachable"}
 
@@ -40,8 +40,23 @@ func IsSpecial(ret Parsed) bool { // test for special Parsed values
 // intitialize the Cache once during setup with either a MemoryCache or
 // RedisCache implementation.
 // TODO implement singleton pattern
-func InitializeCache(c Cache) {
-	cache = c
+func InitializeCache() {
+	var err error
+	if CacheConf.UseRedis {
+		cache, err = NewRedisCache(CacheConf)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Println("Could not initialize redis cache, falling back to memory cache:", err)
+		}
+	} else { // initialize the MemoryCache
+		cache, err = NewMemoryCache()
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Fatal("Could not initialize MemoryCache:", err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func ExpireCache() int {
+	return cache.Expire()
 }
 
 /* Convenience method to make new entries in the cache.
diff --git a/bird/memory_cache.go b/bird/memory_cache.go
index 89384b4..7475e06 100644
--- a/bird/memory_cache.go
+++ b/bird/memory_cache.go
@@ -59,3 +59,23 @@ func (c *MemoryCache) Set(key string, val Parsed, ttl int) error {
 		return errors.New("Negative TTL value for key" + key)
 	}
 }
+
+func (c *MemoryCache) Expire() int {
+	c.Lock()
+
+	expiredKeys := []string{}
+	for key, _ := range c.m {
+		ttl, correct := c.m[key]["ttl"].(time.Time)
+		if !correct || ttl.Before(time.Now()) {
+			expiredKeys = append(expiredKeys, key)
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, key := range expiredKeys {
+		delete(c.m, key)
+	}
+
+	c.Unlock()
+
+	return len(expiredKeys)
+}
diff --git a/bird/memory_cache_test.go b/bird/memory_cache_test.go
index b4a6a78..4026fae 100644
--- a/bird/memory_cache_test.go
+++ b/bird/memory_cache_test.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ func Test_MemoryCacheAccess(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 
+	cache.Expire()
 	t.Log(parsed)
 }
 
diff --git a/bird/redis_cache.go b/bird/redis_cache.go
index f20f7e8..faf672b 100644
--- a/bird/redis_cache.go
+++ b/bird/redis_cache.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package bird
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
+	"log"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/go-redis/redis"
@@ -74,3 +75,8 @@ func (self *RedisCache) Set(key string, parsed Parsed, ttl int) error {
 		return errors.New("Negative TTL value for key" + key)
 	}
 }
+
+func (self *RedisCache) Expire() int {
+	log.Printf("Cannot expire entries in RedisCache backend, redis does this automatically")
+	return 0
+}
diff --git a/birdwatcher.go b/birdwatcher.go
index 5a3fee1..4e60212 100644
--- a/birdwatcher.go
+++ b/birdwatcher.go
@@ -178,21 +178,8 @@ func main() {
 	bird.RateLimitConf.Conf = conf.Ratelimit
 	bird.RateLimitConf.Unlock()
 	bird.ParserConf = conf.Parser
-
-	var cache bird.Cache
-	if conf.Cache.UseRedis {
-		cache, err = bird.NewRedisCache(conf.Cache)
-		if err != nil {
-			log.Fatal("Could not initialize redis cache, falling back to memory cache:", err)
-		}
-	} else { // initialize the MemoryCache
-		cache, err = bird.NewMemoryCache()
-		if err != nil {
-			log.Fatal("Could not initialize MemoryCache:", err)
-		} else {
-			bird.InitializeCache(cache)
-		}
-	}
+	bird.CacheConf = conf.Cache
+	bird.InitializeCache()
 
 	endpoints.Conf = conf.Server
 
@@ -205,6 +192,8 @@ func main() {
 	myquerylog.SetFlags(myquerylog.Flags() &^ (log.Ldate | log.Ltime))
 	mylogger := &MyLogger{myquerylog}
 
+	go Housekeeping(conf.Housekeeping, !(bird.CacheConf.UseRedis)) // expire caches only for MemoryCache
+
 	if conf.Server.EnableTLS {
 		if len(conf.Server.Crt) == 0 || len(conf.Server.Key) == 0 {
 			log.Fatalln("You have enabled TLS support but not specified both a .crt and a .key file in the config.")
diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index a722a35..12e2325 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -17,12 +17,13 @@ import (
 type Config struct {
 	Server endpoints.ServerConfig
 
-	Ratelimit bird.RateLimitConfig
-	Status    bird.StatusConfig
-	Bird      bird.BirdConfig
-	Bird6     bird.BirdConfig
-	Parser    bird.ParserConfig
-	Cache     bird.CacheConfig
+	Ratelimit    bird.RateLimitConfig
+	Status       bird.StatusConfig
+	Bird         bird.BirdConfig
+	Bird6        bird.BirdConfig
+	Parser       bird.ParserConfig
+	Cache        bird.CacheConfig
+	Housekeeping HousekeepingConfig
 }
 
 // Try to load configfiles as specified in the files
diff --git a/etc/birdwatcher/birdwatcher.conf b/etc/birdwatcher/birdwatcher.conf
index 1b7356a..ac83885 100755
--- a/etc/birdwatcher/birdwatcher.conf
+++ b/etc/birdwatcher/birdwatcher.conf
@@ -78,12 +78,14 @@ ttl = 5 # time to live (in minutes) for caching of cli output
 # Remove fields e.g. interface
 filter_fields = []
 
-# Enable support for multitable configurations
-per_peer_tables = true
-peer_protocol_prefix = 'ID'
-pipe_protocol_prefix = 'P'
-
 [cache]
-use_redis = false 
+use_redis = false # if not using redis cache, activate housekeeping to save memory! 
 redis_server = "myredis:6379"
 redis_db = 0
+
+# Housekeeping expires old cache entries (memory cache backend) and performs a GC/SCVG run if configured.
+[housekeeping]
+# Interval for the housekeeping routine in minutes
+interval = 5
+# Try to release memory via a forced GC/SCVG run on every housekeeping run
+force_release_memory = true
diff --git a/housekeeping.go b/housekeeping.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c38db3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/housekeeping.go
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"log"
+	"runtime/debug"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/alice-lg/birdwatcher/bird"
+)
+
+type HousekeepingConfig struct {
+	Interval           int  `toml:"interval"`
+	ForceReleaseMemory bool `toml:"force_release_memory"`
+}
+
+// This is used to run regular housekeeping tasks, currently expiring old
+// Cache entries to release memory
+func Housekeeping(config HousekeepingConfig, expireCaches bool) {
+	for {
+		if config.Interval > 0 {
+			time.Sleep(time.Duration(config.Interval) * time.Minute)
+		} else {
+			time.Sleep(5 * time.Minute)
+		}
+
+		log.Println("Housekeeping started")
+
+		if (bird.ClientConf.CacheTtl > 0) && expireCaches {
+			// Expire the caches
+			log.Println("Expiring MemoryCache")
+
+			count := bird.ExpireCache()
+			log.Println("Expired", count, "entries (MemoryCache)")
+		}
+
+		if config.ForceReleaseMemory {
+			// Trigger a GC and SCVG run
+			log.Println("Freeing memory")
+			debug.FreeOSMemory()
+		}
+	}
+}