Sims 3 Keeps Freezing, Help?

My Dell Inspron R15 laptop computer was bought about less than a year ago. My Sims 3 game has been working fine sense then but suddenly for the past week or two it freezes at the most random times. Like, the clock stops but the plumbob on the top of the Sims head are STILL SPINNING! I don't understand why this happens and I have a lot of memory left and it is very frustrating. I also have a slip n' slide in the Sims 3 game and it still works when it freezes. The game freezes for about 10 seconds. The mouse doesn't even freeze, I can still click on things but nothing comes up. Please Help? Detailed Answers would be soooo appreciated :) Thanx!! <3