Hikermor got it, although his answer might not have seemed totally clear.

Alcohol swabs are cheap, as you say, but generally should not be used on wounds. Use them to sterilize intact skin, like before an injection, or to sterilize objects, e.g. a needle to take out a splinter. And, like you said, they can be used as a firestarter.

For wounds, the povidone-iodine swabs are a better antiseptic to use than alcohol. Note that povidone-iodine swabs also can have a dual use as a water purifier, although I've never known anyone to actually rely on the swab trick with suspect water.

However, there is a lot of controversy even in the 21st century on the utility of antiseptics in wound care. There's research on either side that demonstrate that antiseptics hurt or help wound healing so people have many opinions on the matter.

The first and best thing to do for a wound is wash it out as thoroughly as you can, even with plain water if that is all you have available. The swabs are not a substitute for cleaning the wound.