Would you be able to cope if your rent, mortgage or other regular bills increased? The shifting economy of recent years has meant rising costs for many: over 3 million people face higher mortgage repayments as their fixed deals end, and two thirds of renters say they may need to move if their rent bill increases by over £110. Without a financial buffer, changes to essential bills can become extra stressful. We’re here to help you manage your budget to feel calmer and more in control, no matter what happens!
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Your buffer vs your emergency fund
You might already know the importance of having an emergency fund stashed away. Your emergency fund should cover 3-6 months of your standard expenses in case of serious problems like illness or dismissal that reduce or stop your usual income. This is really important to make sure you can keep your home and pay for your family’s essentials.
When an unexpected bill increase comes in, it can be tempting to dip into your emergency fund to cover it. But this can quickly erode your savings, leaving you vulnerable to big shocks. This is where having a buffer becomes important. A buffer isn’t just extra savings – it’s the gap between your income and your fixed commitments. The larger that gap, the easier it is to absorb increases in essential costs without financial stress. If most of your income is tied up in necessary expenses like housing, loan repayments and bills, even small increases can create pressure.
Building a buffer means designing your monthly finances so you have meaningful discretionary capacity – giving you flexibility to adapt to rising costs without compromising your long-term savings or financial security.
How much financial buffer do you need?
The exact amount of buffer you need might vary depending on your lifestyle and circumstances. The average rent in the UK increased by 8.1% in 2025, while average monthly mortgage repayments have increased by around £500 since 2020. Food costs have also risen by 40% since 2025, in addition to significant increases in costs for utilities, insurance, phone and internet contracts, and many other regular bills. So having some slack in your budget to cover a potential increase in essential costs might look like finding somewhere between £100-£300 a month, depending on your starting point.
How to build a buffer
You can get started with building your buffer by:
- Taking a look at your everyday spending (using Maji’s spending planner tool for an easy way to view your transactions)
- Categorising your spending to understand exactly where your money is going
- Checking where you can reduce your spending to create slack
A rough guide to successful budgeting is to follow the 50/30/20 rule: spend 50% of your income on essentials (rent, food, transport etc.); 30% on wants (leisure, entertainment, shopping); and put 20% into savings.
Tips and tricks
You may not be able to reduce all your costs, but even small changes can make a big difference. For example, if you could reduce your food shop by £10 per week, that’s £40 per month available as a buffer.
You might consider some of the following ideas:
- Using your Maji discounts to save money on shopping and leisure.
- Switching to supermarket brands over big name products.
- Cancelling unused subscriptions (tip: use Maji to check what’s coming out of your account).
- Checking to see if you can find a better deal on utilities, phone and internet when your contracts end.
- Using sinking funds to gradually save for one-off expenses like dental work, birthday presents or holidays.
Bigger changes that might give you more slack in your budget could include:
- Reducing the portion of your income that goes towards your rent or mortgage so you’re not spending more than 30% of your budget on your home. This might mean moving to a smaller property, shared home or a cheaper area.
- Looking carefully at your debt repayments and considering how best to manage these to reduce their impact on your budget in time, perhaps with support from an organisation like StepChange.
- Planning ahead for bigger financial commitments like car payments, ensuring they don’t take up a huge chunk of your essential costs – 10% of your income is a good target.
Rising costs are a normal part of life – but financial stress doesn’t have to be. The key isn’t just having savings set aside for emergencies, but building flexibility into your everyday finances.
By keeping your fixed commitments at a sustainable level and protecting meaningful discretionary space in your budget, you give yourself room to adapt when expenses increase. That’s what a buffer really is: not just extra money, but breathing room.
