Please Help: Bankroll management-1st year of Poker and STUCK.

[GameTheory]

Hi everyone,
This is my first post on here, however, let me give you a brief backround of my situation first:

I started playing poker online about 11 months ago. I made the mistake of starting with 1/2 NL before reading any books or learning anything. To make a long story short, I played these 1/2NL tables by purchasing a table max buy in every week with 1/2 of my paycheck(200$). Obviously I would have my win streaks, but of course-since I knew very little about +EV etc.-I ended up losing everything 100% of the time. My position on Bank Roll management was: If I have enough to buy into the table for a session, I have enough to play.(See where I am going with this?)

Well as of now, in my 11th month of playing, I have lost a total of around 5K playing poker. I am a much better player now, and have read loads and studied tons of information. However, I always have the feeling that I need to win it all back in a day;but, clearly I don't have the BR to accomplish that. At any rate, I am getting alot smarter with the limits I play--Nothing higher than 3/6 limit and .5/1 NL. Another problem is that when I reach a bad -30-40BB losing streak, I just about ALWAYS take what I have left to a 5/10 or 10/20 game and either lose it all or win it back.

My question is to people who have become winning players--'How long did it take you to become "winning" players? and is what I am going through normal for an unexperienced player that had no real correct concept on Bank roll requirements for a game?

I'd really like as many people as possible to give me some really solid and sound advice on the best way to go about playing poker here on out i.e. what game to start with, what should I do when I have a bad run, good run, money management, etc etc.
I give you all my word, that I will listen to all of your advice word for word and take it into great consideration.

PS. Don't start flame wars with each other please. If someone gives bad advice, just kindly note why it was bad, and we'll keep the discussion going.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH.

Jake (YouHeDad on PS)