I am not sure how far you are from Palatine or whether you can find anything closer, but at Palatine Recycling Center on Smith & NW HWY, you can get mulch for free. Look for the great big blue water tower just west of NW HWY on Smith Rd. The mulch piles are just NE of the base of the water tower. Have fun. :-)

I live in Palatine. The mulch is free, but remember "you get what you pay for"...
The best time to go is a week or two after a big storm - all the fallen limbs & broken branches around town end up here, so the wood is 'fresh' & somewhat healthy. But you'll also get alot of leaves still green mixed in.
Sometimes mid-summer the quality isn't too good - I've found lots of garbage ground up with the plant material (plastic grocery store bags, broken glass, empty cigarette packs...). Sometimes residents bundle up very diseased & bug infested material to be recycled, and the village employees can't be expected to inspect everything they grind, so you're just giving these problems a free ride into your yard.
Because I live close, it's easy to stop by to check the quality, and come back later if if looks spooky. I've also taken a few bags of good mulch from a very massive huge pile, & gone back 2 days later to find it's all gone.
But if you do go, bring containers (I use plastic 'contractor clean-up bags') & shovel & gloves. You're digging it yourself from a pile. And the mice are friendly...

Perhaps you could do a walk around your neighborhood and notice the recyle bags of grass, etc. A couple of our neighbors were delighted when i asked if i could take their bags of grass.

Call some local tree trimmers. Many times they are happy to get rid of their wood chips as otherwise they have to pay to get rid of them. That is how I get mine, delivered for free.

Lee