diff --git a/scripts/supybot b/scripts/supybot
index 99115dc0c..3e9d6475f 100755
--- a/scripts/supybot
+++ b/scripts/supybot
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def main():
     import world
     import drivers
     import schedule
-    schedule.addPeriodicEvent(world.upkeep, 300)
+    world.upkeep()
     world.startedAt = started
     while world.ircs:
         try:
diff --git a/src/conf.py b/src/conf.py
index b8ef9a56f..fae5a548c 100644
--- a/src/conf.py
+++ b/src/conf.py
@@ -345,6 +345,11 @@ supybot.register('pingInterval', registry.Integer(120, """Determines the
 number of seconds between sending pings to the server, if pings are being sent
 to the server."""))
 
+supybot.register('upkeepInterval', registry.PositiveInteger(300, """Determines
+the number of seconds between running the upkeep function that flushes
+(commits) open databases, collects garbage, and records some useful statistics
+at the debugging level."""))
+
 supybot.register('flush', registry.Boolean(True, """Determines whether the bot
 will periodically flush data and configuration files to disk.  Generally, the
 only time you'll want to set this to False is when you want to modify those
diff --git a/src/world.py b/src/world.py
index 75ae95a4f..a7ff568dc 100644
--- a/src/world.py
+++ b/src/world.py
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import log
 import conf
 import drivers
 import ircutils
+import schedule
 
 startedAt = time.time() # Just in case it doesn't get set later.
 
@@ -97,6 +98,7 @@ def upkeep():
             log.info('%s Flushers flushed and garbage collected.', timestamp)
         else:
             log.info('%s Garbage collected.', timestamp)
+    schedule.addEvent(upkeep, time.time() + conf.supybot.upkeepInterval())
     return collected
 
 def makeDriversDie():