If you can put $5 into the process, get perlite. That's the only thing that is a must have in my opinion.

Rapid mold growth is probably from being to moist. I start mine directly in cups and wring almost all the water out of the 50/50 perlite/soil mix. I usually don't need to water again until I see roots in the cup.

Thanks for the advice, barnhardt. Isn't 100% humidity an unavoidable constant with the sealed plastic bag method? That's what I'm currently doing, but I need to change something obviously. From my perspective, which admittedly is marginal, there aren't any special/purchased "must haves," because I've successfully rooted at least one fig once without anything special, and I'm content to work from there, no matter how much easier any purchases could make things. I'm basically just doing this as a hobby, so I don't have to achieve any particular level of efficiency, and I get more satisfaction out of optimizing the use of what I've got even than achieving dramatically better results by spending even just a little extra money.

I got to wondering, though, if I'm not going to buy special materials if I wouldn't be better off just rooting cuttings in the ground somehow. I was thinking maybe I could even find a way to stick them diagonally so that their roots would be inside a cold frame that would warm up during the day but the exposed tips would be exposed to the colder outside air.