Are there any lumber yards near you that cut wood? Sawdust is a good brown. Do you have access to the shredded paper from an office?

A couple rabbits could process all those greens for you into neat little pellets. :)

Does the place where you work shred paper? Ask for that from them, as well as from anyone else you know.

Shredded junk mail is the primary component of browns in my pile.

Some banks and various places toss out piles of already-shredded paper. You might be able to get piles of broken down cardboard boxes from a supermarket. Wood chips from an arborist might work but you would probably want to screen them out at the end of the process. Maybe some old rags and old paper bags would also help. Your town might collect leaves and be willing to give you some.

I swipe other people's bagged leaves when I can. Shredded paper of course. Sawdust, especially from non kiln dried wood is great in the compost (do avoid anything pressure treated though.)

I've been known to pick up newspaper that people would otherwise be tossing out at work.

If you are really hard up for cover materials and the bin is getting stinky, and you have an oder pile of compost.... The older compost probably doesn't stink anymore so if you use it as cover material, it might help you out in a pinch. During the wet season, I put a big piece of cardboard over the compost pile to help make water run off to the outside of the pile rather than soaking into an already wet pile. You might need a way to keep the cardboard from blowing away though. I use a branch or stick to weigh it down and wedge it into the bin.

Other handy sources for carbon materials. Don't throw tissues, paper plates, or paper towels in the trash, they should go in a bucket to become more cover materials. I usually also shred all cereal boxes and other paperboard packaging for the compost. Old phone books are great for this and they stack and store well for future use too!

Another source for corrugated cardboard is the big warehouse stores like Costco. They use cardboard sheets, called slip sheets between layers of products on pallets. I usually cruise the store and can pick up a huge pile of 3' by 4' sheets quite quickly. These are great for covering huge areas of lawn with compost and mulch materials to turn into lasagna gardens.

But then I need more leaves!!!!!!!!!

Good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: My Compost Bins

You could bite the bullet and pay for a bale of straw. Or you could check out the neighbors' trash as they start spring cleaning in the yard.

I was also going to suggest a bale of straw. For a very few dollars you get quite a bit of browns in one bale.

And at this time of year, neighbors should soon be doing spring yard clean-up. Look for bags of leaves and winter-killed plants.

Karen