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please explain the CDs and such as I am interested in how to obtain them. sorry if i am asking you to hold my hand but I really don't want to pay a 'tuition' in these matters (like i did with poker).
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Banks sell CD's. They are a way of locking up your money for a lmited time (1 month to years) in exchange for a higher interest rate than you can get from a money market account.
Go to bankrate.com. It should show you where the best CD and money market rates are so you can compare options. Right now it looks like Andy Beal is offering a nice deal (3.75%) down in texas for one month CDs
And I disagree very slightly with some of the advice here. You should keep your money safe and short term. But one year CD's offer about a 1% higher interest rate than one month. Beyond that (i.e. 2 year, 3 year) the extra interest is minor. So you should consider a "ladder" of one year and less CD's.
A ladder is buying a group of CDs of different durations, so that you have them regularly maturing and can "roll them over" into longer term CDs.
An example in this case, you could buy a one month, a two month, a three month, a six month, a nine month, and a one year CD to make up your ladder. The one month CD pays 3.7%, the one year 4.7% and the others in between, pay something, well, in between.
One month from now, your first CD matures, and you replace it with a one year CD. Two months from now you do the same with your 2 month CD. Three months ditto with your three month CD, until at the end of the year all your CD's are one year CD's with different end dates.
Essentially you are increasing your yield to the 1 year level, but always have a new CD maturing every 1-3 months for emergencies or to be re-invested. In the end you have much of the financial flexibility of short term CD's, but the yield of a longer CD.