I ended up reading one of Caimie's guides online and I don't hate the favor system quite so much now. I was able to get more materials per favor, so now I can generally get enough materials for 2 turn in per 5 favors, it just took reading up a little more. Some prepwork, and avoiding death by wandering Dragon!
And I can even sell some of the extras I get if I want.
I still think it is an overly convoluted system, but it's something I can deal with. And thankfully I have enough turn in stored away to cap red scrips for the next 2 weeks.