"I'll just get free boxes" is how most moves start. Here's what a typical 2-bedroom move actually spends by the time it ends.
The cardboard receipt
New large moving boxes run $2.50–$4 each at the big-box stores. A 2-bedroom move needs 40–50 of them once you account for crushed corners and the ones that were secretly the wrong size: call it $120–$170. Add packing tape ($15–$25 for enough rolls), a tape gun ($10), and marker-and-label supplies ($10). Realistic total: $155–$215 — before your time.
"But free boxes exist"
They do, and they cost evenings. Grocery-store boxes are sized for cans, not comforters; liquor-store boxes are sturdy but tiny; marketplace freebies mean driving across town for a stack of mystery-moisture cardboard. Most people burn two or three evenings assembling a free-box collection — and still buy 20 new ones at the end.
The part nobody prices: after the move
Every cardboard box you pack, you also break down. A 45-box move produces a curb pile that most county pickups won't take in one week. Bins skip the whole chapter: we collect them from your new address, and the cleanup line item is zero.
The bin math
Our 2-Bedroom package — 45 bins for a week with delivery and pickup included — costs $170 flat. No tape (lids attach), no assembly, no disposal. On dollars alone it's competitive with new cardboard; on hours it isn't close. And each rental keeps that stack of single-use boxes out of the landfill entirely.
The honest verdict
If you have unlimited free time, a truck for scavenging, and a place to store flattened boxes, cardboard can edge out on cash. For everyone else, the bins cost about the same, pack faster, protect better, and disappear when you're done. That's the whole pitch.