Buy used cardboard boxes
The grocery store down the street is throwing out cardboard boxes every day, but you're spending an arm and a leg at Staples to get a dozen for your move—and new webapp BoxCycle is out to stop the madness. Retailers sign up at BoxCycle and list their business hours and the number of boxes they've got for sale. People who are moving or shipping stuff can pay for the boxes via PayPal at the site, then pick 'em up during business hours. The point is to recycle the boxes, get more money back to businesses, and get consumers a discount on usable boxes, though it'll be interesting to see what kind of uptake there really is on the retailer side. Prices range from 75 cents for an extra small box to a $1.25 for an extra large box. To find cheap to free cardboard boxes elsewhere, there's always the previously mentioned U-Haul box exchange or good old craigslist.