I do actually know about busybox through a friend of mine and it is on my todo list. The main issue is not really about running out of space (it is a secondary one) but that there are perl modules lying around which dont do anything for me and is lying there taking up diskspace.
I am installing debian on the box and the default perl libs installed are quite large.
I can live with having a huge CGI.pm 'cos i dont have a choice as some of my stuff requires (or should I say use) it but there are perl libs installed there that serves no purpose right now.
Both the compressed fs and busybox suggestions are great (and are on my todos in terms of upgrade due to time and knowledge constraints) but I want to start the perl from a minimal state.