What's up Joe. Germinating seeds is not all that difficult as people make it out to be. How I do it, and almost cost nothing, is I take a Tupperware container(for storing foods) and put a folded paper towel on the bottom. Then I push the paper towel down with distilled water, making sure it's soaked with just a little run off water. Through the seeds in, cover with another PT, and most of the time I can push the top one down and have it be wet, but I still put a little more water in just to make sure. Then I put the lid on the container, and wrap it in a shirt(clothing) and put the clothing in my dressier drawer. Within 24 hours I have all my seeds cracked with roots.
I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I also was tempted to buy the germ kid from nirvana. But I find that this gives me 100% germ rate. Make sure the seed root is atleast half and inch long. I find it to be faster to pop from soil when there that long, or longer. Good luck man