so, I have come to the conclusion that work is making me lose

Save 10% of every paycheck.

I'm saving more than that, but it won't be long before I spend it all

Ah, yeah, that's an error of our language not containing enough words. Sometimes it's hard to think what we don't have a word for. I used to do the same thing you did until I realized I needed two words for my money so that I could think about it correctly. I started calling my two types of money "savings" and "storage". Storage is the temporary money to collect until it's big enough to buy something you want. It's OK to spend that. Savings is the money you actually keep. You're only allowed to spend your savings on something that keeps the value, such as real estate, stocks, or other investments. You need to save 10%. You can store and spend the rest.

anytime I have anything significant put away, I have to tap into it to fix my car or something, though. Takes months to earn $1k and a second to spend it when crap hits the fan.