I agree about being hesitant to lance it. I personally wouldn't even consider lancing it at home--it would be too difficult to sterilize the site of entry and the needle and everything that touches the area, and without the sterilization, the risk of introducing a worse infection is very high.
I had an abscess develop several years ago in the delicate tissues near my underarm. It was the size of a ping pong ball, and ultimately I had a surgeon lance it. It was traumatic and expensive and afterward the abscess began filling up again. Then, about three days later, my body opened up a hole the size of a pea and drained the abscess itself--it was a remarkable thing--I just sat on the bed and held a towel under it while it oozed and ran for about twenty minutes. Then it was done and it healed from the inside out. The hole looked like a bullet hole and was kind of freaky, but my body did it on its own. Looking back, I wish I had skipped the trouble and expense of the surgical intervention.
That's not to say that every abscess will eventually heal itself, just that surgical intervention (such as lancing) should be considered a last resort, and that there is hope that the site will eventually heal itself if the animal is otherwise healthy and well provided for.
Definitely try the beeswax etc. mixture--the ingredients should be fairly inexpensive at a health food store--they should be available as dried herbs and if you have a place that sells them out of bulk bins (as opposed to in little glass jars or something), they may well come in under your $5 budget. And it doesn't carry much risk.
