For years, I was doing the exact thing that you are - running up several thousand worth of CC debt, and then raiding my EF to pay them off. What helped me is having the money for my EF visually seperated from the rest of my money in Mvelopes. My EF is its own envelope, so everytime I look at my envelopes I see Emergency Fund right there in big letters. You could do something similar by opening an online savings account that is ONLY for your EF. Set up a direct deposit or automatic transfer from your checking account and then "forget" about the money. My paycheck is split into several accounts by direct deposit, so every payday my EF gets a bit bigger.
I also have escrow accounts (envelopes) as a previous poster mentioned for car repair, vet bills, gift giving, and medical bills. That means my EF is only for unemployment or very big car repair, vet, or medical bills that can't be covered by my regular escrow envelopes.
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