No reason to use lighter fluid with briquettes. All you need is a chimney and some sort of fire starter (newsprint works and you can buy little bundles that burn like nuts and start the coals every time).
Definitely want to find a similarly cheap source of actual pure charcoal, though.
You basically just wad up the paper into the egg carton cups and pour enough wax to hold it together (althernatively you can dip the wadded up paper in the wax then stick it in the cups before it solidifies). Cut a carton cup out of the carton, place it under the chimney, light it, and let it g.
...or so I'd like to say, practically speaking the minimal prep work of "grease a wadge of paper towel and spark it" is more realistic for my degree of laziness.
I do like the pre-made ones because I live on a windy hill so the fact that they are overkill helps them not go out while lighting.