With Ghostery, I find it's set and forget. I just leave it running and turn off the announcements. They maintain the block list, sort of like ad blockers do. Mind you, it's only one of many privacy/security extensions I run.
There's quite a few cookie specific extensions for Firefox if cookies are your primary concern. I don't use any, but have a look at the reviews.
NoScript take a lot of training, but I wouldn't be without it. A lot of people find it too intrusive, but in my IT job I have to check a few dodgy sites, and I find it invaluable.