High RAM usage suddenly

Screenshot is showing an uptime of 23:45 so not helpful for showing memory use at boot

Another user made a similar allegation in September. I responded with data from free -h
Is it just me, or is Manjaro XFCE using more RAM lately? - #12 by nikgnomic

I have checked RAM usage again following recent updates and both systems show an increase in memory used when first booted

For my system:

$ free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:            15Gi       599Mi        14Gi       4.0Mi       468Mi        14Gi
Swap:          3.9Gi          0B       3.9Gi

net increase 599Mi - 538Mi = 61Mi
(the additional memory appeared to create a larger increase than subsequent updates)

Partner’s system

$ free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.8Gi       499Mi       6.8Gi       2.0Mi       488Mi       7.0Gi
Swap:          3.9Gi          0B       3.9Gi

Net increase = 499Mi - 493Mi = 7Mi