Do I want to climb the CD ladder?

When I was building my emergency fund I just focused on having the money, not how I would take care of it once I had it. As my fund grew bigger, I started to think about where I would keep all that money. It is for emergencies so it has to be pretty liquid and accessible. Interest rates for savings are so low now that I almost might as well keep it under my mattress. Right now I am making 1.01% - it's laughable! The solution I came up with was to put one month's expenses (my E-fund is bases on four months of expenses) in a six month CD. Two months later I put another month's expenses into a CD. In another two months I did the same again. I am keeping one month's expenses in the savings. Every two months a CD will roll over, this month that is happening for the first time. The short term on the CD means that while I don't get as good of an interest rate as a longer term CD I still get more than with the conventional savings; also I won't have to wait that long if I anticipate needing the money in the near future.

Recently I heard about CD laddering, where you take a bunch of money, divide it into five portions, and every year you buy a five year CD. After a few years you have a CD maturing every year. Because the five year interest rates are higher the return is better but some of the money is accessible every year. I think that is a good idea but I'm not sure I want to do it, at least not with my emergency fund. Maybe with some other money. But the idea has given me something to think about.

Sidenote: I used to work as a bank teller in the early 90s. I remember looking at the rates for a 20 year CD and they were 12%. I think 5 year rates were around 7%. Thinking about that and looking at today's rates makes me want to gag. If I could have cobbled together $1000 back then how much money would I be looking at the end of 20 years? I don't even want to calculate it, I might cry.