I have a few thousand dollars I'd like to put in an account to save/earn interest that I can use for home repairs next summer. What sort of account should I establish a traditional savings or a CD?
By all means shop around for the best rate, which banks should quote as an annual percentage yield. That figure is designed to take into account not only the interest rate to be paid, but also the effects of the bank's compounding practices.
In general, CDs pay better rates than savings accounts. The best thing to do is to set a maturity date for a CD that's just before when you think you'll need the funds.
Get complete information about the bank's early withdrawal penalties, just in case you have need of your funds sooner than planned. Also, be aware that rates could go up after you've committed to the CD (but waiting with no interest accruing could be more expensive than the little bit of extra interest you might gain with a slightly higher annual percentage yield you get a month from now). Once you've deposited the funds, interest rate would need to go up quite a bit before it would make sense to do an early withdrawal (with penalty) just to get a higher rate.
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By all means shop around for the best rate, which banks should quote as an annual percentage yield. That figure is designed to take into account not only the interest rate to be paid, but also the effects of the bank's compounding practices.