I would suggest putting an EXTREMELY smelly and tasty snack in there and letting her go in herself.
Given that you can't afford to take her yet, you have time to practice! Get some kind of yummy cat friendly treat, and let her go in. Don't shut the door the first few times she goes in.
If that fails, yeah towel, even better if you can borrow welding gloves. I've had the most luck picking cats up and holding one hand under their chest and holding their back feet with my other hand. The hardest part is that they will splay all their legs out when they figure out what you're doing, so you have to be preemptive and get the legs in, then sneak em in real quick...