Is Skype Memory Hogging?

I just recently installed the famous VOIP program Skype on my laptop. I stayed away from it last time because my housemate uses it to talk to his girlfriend and his laptop is extremely slow with excessive amount of lagging signs even performing routine activities like web surfing and file copying. Whenever I used his laptop he would ask me to close down the Skype program because it's slowing the entire OS down. I came to the conclusion that Skype is a memory hogger.

Now, after 2 days of using Skype on my laptop, it is showing signs of delayed commands and lags in typing. Sometimes the program windows freezes for 10 seconds before return to active duty again. This all happens after Skype was installed and run. Also, Skype crashes 2 out of 5 times that I use it. Not instantly, but after a period of time. Hence, I once again conclude that Skype is memory hogging.

As its tagline say, take a deep breath. That's what I did everytime Skype crashes. :(