Skyrim: 20MB savefile issue

[JobVanDam]

Quick backstory: I used to play Skyrim. Truly, truly loved it. First playthrough savefile hit 20MB and the game became unplayable (i.e. freezing when walking the world map, freeze when loading new areas etc.). Start a new game same thing happens again. Got so fed up I had to stop playing.
This issue isn't widely known but I have come across quite a few others who ran into the same issue.

My question with all the latest Skyrim modding that has gone here has anyone else come across this issue and found a solution or fix for it?

[JobVanDam]

Quick backstory: I used to play Skyrim. Truly, truly loved it. First playthrough savefile hit 20MB and the game became unplayable (i.e. freezing when walking the world map, freeze when loading new areas etc.). Start a new game same thing happens again. Got so fed up I had to stop playing.
This issue isn't widely known but I have come across quite a few others who ran into the same issue.

My question with all the latest Skyrim modding that has gone here has anyone else come across this issue and found a solution or fix for it?

Forgot to mention the main theory for why this happened was the game saves every single item you touch so when you come back it will be in the exact same spot you left it in. Over time though that portion becomes so large when it tries to load that part it crashes.

Does anyone anyone if you have access to the portion that saves all the items you touched?