MtG: making makeshift cards for home play
A sensible method is to get hold of some commons - I know "your budgets are limited", but if there's a game store that does drafting near you, quite often people just leave their commons lying around on the tables for anyone who wants them, they're that desperate to get rid of them; and even if not, there are other ways to buy them in bulk for cheap - put stickers over the text box, and use cards with like casting costs as proxies.  So if you want to represent e.g. a Primeval Titan (casting cost 4GG) you would use a Craw Wurm or Yavimaya Wurm instead.

Otherwise it seems like you'll end up doing WAY too much cross-referencing - what was a #73 again?  The casting cost should be a useful cue for remembering which card you have in your hand, and you can write any extra information you need on the sticker of course...