Stuff keeps deleting with each restart

whenever I restart the computer, a lot of my personal settings dissapear--or at least move. Some examples: firefox bookmarks go away and firefox resets to what it was like before I ever used it; Mail clears all mailboxes and asks me to set up a new account; folders that I had the desktop move to other places on the computer; applications like itunes and iphoto seem like they are new--with no music or photos (that were previously on them); the dock resets to a default; and some more smaller stuff that I don't care about too much. Does anyone know whats going on? Most of the stuff isn't permanent--I have backups of all of this stuff somewhere on the computer, but it would be super-annoying if I had to re-do everything every time I rebooted the computer. Can anyone help? I need it...

Thanks,
Charlie:

Changed the name of your Home folder perhaps?

This is a no-no.

Nothing is getting written to your home directory. As bobtomay says, you may have changed the name of that folder in the Finder. Or you may have an out of control permissions mess. Depending on which version of OS X you are using, go to your System Preferences --> Accounts. Look at the Short Name of your account. Open your hard drive, open Users, look at the name of your Home directory. The two names should be the same.

I guess I did do this a few times. Everything seems to be working now . Thanks a lot for your help. you guys are the best

yea - never change the name of your home folder...