To many of the responders on this thread: read the OP and subsequent replies before posting, please.
Spoil Sport.
OP: no matter what you decide.... get some more atties. LRs in particular are known not to last as long. And dry-burning an LR (if it is LR) is probably a 50/50 proposition at best for a newbie. There's a learning curve, even for standard atties. You may wish to pick up a few cartos too to try em.
I drip, and clean atties every day or every other day. Blow them out once or even twice per day. Clean with hot tap water rinse, and "jigger the battery button to dry them out." like you said you do. lol. I like that term/phrase. I call it a "Warm Burn" since I do it to dry the water off, not turn any gunk to ash.