diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index eb5eafd7..aefef472 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -5,11 +5,6 @@
 
 - do conv and morph quickly as simple wrappers over the vips7 operations
 
-- with VIPS_ARRAY() etc., we could note the mem use on the object we alloc
-  local to, might make for interesting stats
-
-  does vips_malloc() used the tracked mem system?
-
 - do much fancier profiling with timing on all locks saved in memory and
   dumped on exit
 
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/object.h b/libvips/include/vips/object.h
index 79356dea..5d27210a 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/object.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/object.h
@@ -456,6 +456,11 @@ struct _VipsObject {
 	gboolean preclose;
 	gboolean close;
 	gboolean postclose;
+
+	/* Total memory allocated relative to this object, handy for
+	 * profiling.
+	 */
+	size_t local_memory;
 };
 
 struct _VipsObjectClass {
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/memory.c b/libvips/iofuncs/memory.c
index 8f423be1..fe95d338 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/memory.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/memory.c
@@ -150,9 +150,11 @@ vips_malloc( VipsObject *object, size_t size )
 
 	buf = g_malloc( size );
 
-        if( object )
+        if( object ) {
 		g_signal_connect( object, "postclose", 
 			G_CALLBACK( vips_malloc_cb ), buf );
+		object->local_memory += size;
+	}
 
 	return( buf );
 }
@@ -179,9 +181,11 @@ vips_strdup( VipsObject *object, const char *str )
 
 	str_dup = g_strdup( str );
 
-        if( object )
+        if( object ) {
 		g_signal_connect( object, "postclose", 
 			G_CALLBACK( vips_malloc_cb ), str_dup );
+		object->local_memory += strlen( str );
+	}
 
 	return( str_dup );
 }
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/object.c b/libvips/iofuncs/object.c
index 88fdecbb..1047b0b0 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/object.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/object.c
@@ -1232,6 +1232,9 @@ vips_object_real_dump( VipsObject *object, VipsBuf *buf )
 {
 	vips_buf_appendf( buf, " %s (%p)", 
 		G_OBJECT_TYPE_NAME( object ), object );
+
+	if( object->local_memory )
+		vips_buf_appendf( buf, " %zd bytes", object->local_memory ); 
 }
 
 static void
@@ -2448,8 +2451,11 @@ vips_object_print_all_cb( VipsObject *object, int *n )
 	char str[32768];
 	VipsBuf buf = VIPS_BUF_STATIC( str );
 
-	fprintf( stderr, "%d) %s (%p)\n", 
+	fprintf( stderr, "%d) %s (%p)", 
 		*n, G_OBJECT_TYPE_NAME( object ), object );
+	if( object->local_memory )
+		fprintf( stderr, " %zd bytes", object->local_memory ); 
+	fprintf( stderr, "\n" ); 
 
 	vips_object_summary_class( class, &buf );
 	vips_buf_appends( &buf, " " );