Good morning, fellow FICOers! I have some news (and questions, of course) related to my rebuilding efforts.
I currently have: Capital One Secured ($300), Fingerhut Advantage ($300), and a one-year Self Lender loan.
I recently applied for First Progress Secured ($200) and Citi Diamond Secured (no deposit yet).
Yesterday I was officially approved by First Progress. I've still heard nothing from Citi, though they did do the hard pull on my CRs early this morning. Checking the online application status tool is still the same - we'll be in touch, blah, blah, blah. I didn't put down a deposit with that one yet because frankly, they're hard to get started with, and I'd rather not have $200 tied up in a declined application. If I do get approved, I'll likely send in $200-$300 for that one, as well.
I figured it's best to get everything out of the way and take that nasty FICO hit early on and all at once, then just stay in the garden for a year or so and see what happens. I hope that's the right course of action. That's pretty much what I've taken away from the things I've seen and read here.
Still waiting for any of these new accounts to report, too. I'll be so happy when they all start hitting my CRs. 
(For those of you curious, I have an old account with Open Sky so they won't approve me. Discover won't approve me just yet, either. I don't care so much about Open Sky as they've been PIF, but I would eventually like to get in with Discover. Maybe in a year I can skip the secured card altogether and move forward with a rewards card of some sort.)
Thanks for sharing this! 
Just so you know, if Citi denies your application, just know that you have enough revolving accounts (and a good credit mix thanks to the Self-Lender account) to maxmize your Fico scores. 
I would not sweat it too much. It looks like you are off to a good start!
Thanks, everyone!
Yeah, I did a TON of research here in these forums before I made any decisions, and it seemed like going on an "app spree" all at once was the best course of action since all the HPs would fall off at the same time, resulting in a good-sized jump when I needed it most. I just want to thank everyone here at MyFico for the excellent advice - and the people at MyFico for making such a community available.
I do have an update that I'm going to start another thread about just so people see it and can give me their opinions//experiences.
I took care of a collection agency account yesterday... I hope. It's one of four listed on my report. This one was from Progressive insurance. Apparently I had missed my last payment right about the time I moved. I called to cancel my policy (moved to a new state & insurance was WAY cheaper through a different insurer), and the agent I spoke with didn't once mention I'd owe a second payment. When I spoke with Progressive, they said they didn't call - they sent a letter. Since I'd moved, I *should* have gotten it thanks to the USPS forwarding, but I didn't. Anyway, that's all water under the bridge, but hopefully it'll help someone else out in the future.
My account was turned over to CCS (Credit Collection Service). I called them yesterday to pay the $109 I owed just to have it taken care of. I was VERY careful, however. I said I wanted to PIF in exchange for deletion. At first, she said that they would report it as PIF to the CBs, and I said that's not enough. I repeated myself... I wanted to PIF in exchange for DELETION. She then told me to log into my account through their website and view a "disclaimer" she'd added to my account saying that in exchange for PIF, the company would reach out to all three bureaus with a request to remove. I printed that disclaimer out, made the payment, and once again got the confirmation. She said it would take them 7-14 days to reach out to the CBs once the payment processes, and at that point, it *may* take the CBs up to 30 days to update my report. She mentioned that once they send the request to remove, it's out of their hands. I agree with this and I'm aware. I just hope that the CBs do actually pay attention to those requests. One less collection account = one happy EJ. <3
Well done, EJ1980!
With collection agencies, it is vital that you are CLEAR with your terms. You must show them that you are in control—not them!
As others have said you are off to a good start here. Now use these cards every month and pay off even multi times in month if need be. You can practice AZEO if you wish but its not necessary when not apping for new credit. In a year go for the unsecured Discover.
