Sorry about the title, couldn’t think of a good concise way to word it without putting the entire op in there.
So, as I was cleaning the contacts on my earbuds and the charging case for them, I got to wondering how other folks use rubbing alcohol and other liniments. I understand that there is going to be some variation depending on the circumstances, some applications are best done by just pouring some on for instance. Generally though, I want to know if you conserve or not. Do you put a little in the bottle cap or some other dish and dip a swab in it to apply it, or do you just dip right into the bottle itself?
I have to apply salve to my eyes every night. After washing my hands carefully, I put my finger over the top of the bottle and upend it so that there is alcohol on my finger tip. I then wave it briefly, squeeze some salve on my finger, apply to eyes. Essentially, I am dipping my finger into the alcohol.
Now that COVID is Over, isopropyl is cheap and readily available. I don’t think about conserving it, nor about preserving its purity within reason. Nor about spilling it since it’s self-clean-upping
I’ll swab straight from the bottle if a swab is the best way to apply it to whatever wherever. I’ll put a folded Kleenex or paper towel over the opening and invert a couple times to soak the paper, then use that to wipe whatever, repeating as necessary. I’ll pour a rough handful into a cupped hand and rub that on whatever.
About the only time I’d think to pour isopropyl into another container is if I want to soak something for minutes. Then find the smallest container that’ll hold the whatever(s), put them in there, then pour the isopropyl to cover. That stuff I’ll discard after the parts are clean. Mostly because it’s probably hard to pour back from whatever dish or cup I picked into the small neck of the isopropyl bottle.
My approach to paint thinner / mineral spirits for cleaning is similar.
Am I reusing the applicator, and is the application dirty in some way? If so, use a small secondary container. But if it’s just a one-time use of a swab, dip. Or, more likely, place a cotton pad over the mouth, invert the container, possibly give it an extra squeeze, and remove.
For another situation entirely, I sometimes find myself needing to clean a whole container, which might involve pouring a decent quantity of alcohol in that container. However, I do this in the smallest possible stages to conserve the alcohol and get a better result. The container will be cleaner if you rinse twice with 50 ml of alcohol twice vs. once with 100 ml. And better yet if you do it four times with 25 ml, and so on, until you reach the point where there is too little liquid to be very effective.
Instead of removing the foil cap on the top of the isopropyl bottle, I poke a small hole in it with a tack or toothpick, so now I have much better control over how much I use. Generally I’ll squeeze out the amount I want onto a paper towel or swab. If I’m soaking, it only takes a few seconds to fill a small container.
I forgot to describe how I was using it to clean the contacts on my earbuds; I pour a bit in the bottle cap. This makes it more convenient to dip the qtip without picking up the bottle every time, I’m not dipping a dirty tool into the main bottle, and it’s just about the right amount. For other things, maybe hand sanitizing, I’d probably just splash some over my hands, or cleaning lenses I’d smother the top of the bottle with a tissue and drench it that way.