Custom settings not saving

I wonder if someone can help me with my photoshop not saving its cutsom settings. From brushes, to gradients, to all the custom settings for all the panels on the side of photoshop. Every time I simply close my photoshop, my settings are all back to the default, and I have no idea how to change it so everything doesn't get lost upon closing. I do upload all my burshes ect the correct way and yet once I exit photoshop, they are all lost again and I have to do the whole thing over. The same for all my settings on my panels. Am I missing a setting? or overlooking something which enables you to keep your custom settings? Its getting frustrating to have to activate all my settings again when I reopen photoshop the next day.