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Before You Move
This is a set of checklists and information to prepare yourself for a large relocation, like a toolkit.
Use a Moving Checklist
I’ve crafted a comprehensive, editable checklist that walks you through every detail from two months before your move to your first week in Knoxville.
Simply download and start ticking off your progress.
Rental Truck
(U-Haul, Penske, Budget)
You rent it, you load it, you drive it. For a move from Southern California to Knoxville, expect somewhere around $1,700 to $3,300 before gas, tolls, and a couple of hotel nights on the road. It's the cheapest option on paper, but you're also the labor and the driver. Loading a truck yourself is real work, and steering something that size through the Smokies takes some getting used to if you haven't done it before.
Freight Trailer
(U-Pack / ABF)
Similar idea to a container, but you pay for linear feet of space in a shared trailer instead of your own dedicated box. Usually lands somewhere between a rental truck and a full container, often $1,800 to $6,000 depending on how much space you use. The loading window is shorter than PODS, often just a few days, so this works best if you're already fairly organized before the truck shows up.
Items Movers Won't Transport
Most moving companies will not move these items:
- propane tanks
- aerosol cans
- paint and paint thinner
- car batteries
- cleaning chemicals
- fireworks
- ammunition
- living plants
Where to Get Rid of What Movers Won't Take
One man's junk is sometimes still just another man's junk
Since propane tanks, paint, batteries, and other chemicals can't go on the truck, you'll need to dispose of them. Most counties run a household hazardous waste disposal site for exactly this kind of thing, usually free or low cost for residents. Look up your county's site before move week so you're not stuck holding a can of paint thinner with nowhere to put it.
Waste Disposal sites for major California counties:
Understand Moving Insurance
Read the contract before you sign
Released Value Protection sounds like insurance but really isn't. If a mover doesn't quote you separately for coverage, you're automatically RVP, which covers your belongings at sixty cents per pound, per item, regardless of what the item is actually worth. That means a fifty pound television worth $1,500 is only covered for $30 if it's damaged.
Full Value Protection is the real option, it costs more, but the mover is responsible for the actual repair or replacement value of anything lost or damaged.
Ask specifically which one you're being quoted. Also check your homeowners or renters insurance policies, because some offer a little coverage during a move, but usually not during loading or unloading.
Ways to Move Your Belongings
There's no single right way to do this. It comes down to your budget, your timeline, and how much you want to be physically involved in the loading and driving. Here's how the main options actually compare.
Moving Container
(PODS, 1-800-PACK-RAT)
A company drops a container at your home, you load it on your own schedule, they drive it to Knoxville, and you unload. Typically $3,000 to $7,500 for a cross country move, depending on container size and how long you keep it. You still do the lifting, but you get your time back instead of spending days behind the wheel. You also have more time to pack and unpack. Book 6 to 8 weeks out if you can, prices tend to climb the closer you get to your move date.
Full Service Movers
(Universal, Allied, North American)
A moving company packs, loads, drives, and unloads everything for you. Usually $5,000 to $10,000 or more for a cross country move, depending on the size of your home. Get at least three quotes based on an actual walkthrough of your home, not just a number over the phone, phone estimates are often way off once a company sees your actual belongings.
Sell
For furniture or larger pieces worth a little extra effort, local consignment shops and Facebook Marketplace tend to move things faster than you'd expect, especially in a market as big as Southern California's.
Your local Goodwill or Salvation Army will take donations of items in good shape, and many locations offer free pickup for larger items like furniture.
Junk
Items not worth donating, College HUNKS Hauling Junk and 1-800-GOT-JUNK both have locations throughout Southern California, including LA, San Diego, and the surrounding areas, and both donate or recycle a good portion of what they haul rather than sending it straight to a landfill.
Downsizing Makes Packing Easy
Donate
Space will be limited when you move.
Carefully consider what you make room to transport.
Packing & Storage
What to Keep With You, Not in the Truck
Beyond your everyday essentials box, there's a shorter, more important list, passports, birth certificates, prescriptions, anything that would be a genuine crisis to lose track of for a few weeks.
Packing Supplies
You don't need to buy everything new. Grocery stores, liquor stores, and bookstores often give away sturdy boxes for free if you just ask, and neighborhood Buy Nothing or Facebook Marketplace groups are full of people trying to get rid of moving supplies right after their own move. That said, a few things are worth buying instead of scavenging: wardrobe boxes for hanging clothes, dish barrels for anything breakable, and mirror or TV cartons for anything flat and fragile. Those specialty boxes cost more, but they save you from the heartbreak of a cracked mirror three states in.
A Simple Packing Order
If you want a rule of thumb for what to pack first, work backward from what you use daily. Start with the rooms and items you touch the least, guest rooms, holiday decor, off season clothes, books you're not currently reading, and save your kitchen, bathroom, and everyday clothes for last. It keeps your house livable for as long as possible while you're still packing everything else around it.
Measure Before You Pack
Before moving day, measure your larger furniture, and measure the doorways, stairwells, and hallways at your new home. A couch that fits perfectly in your current living room can be a genuine problem if it can't make the turn up a staircase or through a narrow hallway. A few minutes with a tape measure now saves you from paying to move something that has to sit in the garage, or worse, on the curb.
Short Term Storage Options
If your moving date and your closing date don't quite line up, which happens more often than you'd think, a short term storage unit can bridge the gap. Expect somewhere around $70 to $180 a month for a small to medium unit, more if you want climate control for anything sensitive to heat or humidity. Most facilities rent month to month, so you're not locked into a long contract just to cover a two week gap.
Firearms and Interstate Transport
If you own firearms, California and Tennessee have different laws, and the rules for one state don't automatically carry over to the other. Rather than assume, look into both states' requirements ahead of your move, and if you're unsure, a conversation with a licensed dealer in either state can clear up the specifics faster than trying to piece it together yourself.
Appointments & Memberships
Finding a Doctor & Transferring Prescriptions
Check whether your current insurance plan covers you in Tennessee at all, or whether you'll need to switch to a new plan once you're here. Once you know that, look up doctors in network near your new home rather than waiting until you need one, urgent situations are a bad time to be starting from scratch.
For prescriptions, most pharmacy chains can transfer a prescription to a new location with a phone call, so pick a pharmacy near your new address and have your current one send everything over before you leave, not after you land and realize you're out of refills.
Line Up These
Professionals
Before Your Move
A few appointments are worth having lined up before you arrive rather than scrambling once you're here; doctors, dentists, and specialists of course, but also consider hair appointments before your new job, dry cleaners, and babysitters or pet sitters.
Canceling or Transferring Memberships
Gym memberships, clubs, meal kit services, and subscription boxes are easy to forget because they just quietly keep charging until someone catches it. Go through your bank or credit card statement from the last month or two and make a list of everything on autopay, then decide what transfers with you, what cancels, and what needs a phone call instead of a website click, some memberships only let you cancel that way on purpose.
A Few More Quick Tips
Book your mover or container 6 to 8 weeks out if you can, especially for a summer move.
Get at least three quotes, and make sure one is based on an actual walkthrough of your home, not just a phone call.
Ask whether your quote is fixed or if it can still change once they see your things in person. A fixed quote protects you from surprises on move day.
Start a folder now for school records, medical records, and anything you'll need to enroll your kids or register your car once you land in Knox County.
Set your mail forwarding to start a few days before your move date, not on it, so nothing gets lost in the shuffle.
Confirm your internet installation date at your new home before moving day, so you're not without service your first week.
Build in a buffer of a day or two between your closing date and your movers' arrival, closings can occasionally shift, and you don't want a truck showing up before you have keys.
For the Road
This is a set of checklists and information to prepare yourself for a large relocation, like a toolkit.
Essentials to Keep With You
- Toiletries
- Chargers
- Clothes for the trip
- Pet food, leashes, & supplies
A Kids' Moving Day Survival Kit
Moving day is a lot for kids to process, their whole world is getting packed into boxes. It can help to let them pack their own comfort bag. Giving a kid control over even one small piece of the day helps more than any explanation could. You can also find lots of suggested car and plane activities for the trip itself.
Transporting Your Vehicle to Knoxville
Driving Cross-Country
If you have the time, this is a real option, and quite a few of my clients turn it into part of the adventure. Plan for four to five days coast to coast if you're not rushing. Most rental truck companies also let you tow a car behind the truck, which can save you a shipping cost entirely.
Before you leave, get a AAA membership or similar roadside assistance plan set up, not after something goes wrong somewhere between Amarillo and Oklahoma City.
A flat tire or a dead battery is a minor inconvenience at home, it's a much bigger problem two states away from anyone you know. Most plans also cover towing if the worst happens, and many rental truck companies offer their own roadside assistance add on, worth asking about when you book.
Professional Auto Transport
If you have more than one vehicle or would rather not make the drive, an auto transport company will pick up your car and deliver it to your new driveway.
Open carrier, the standard kind that also delivers cars to dealerships, runs roughly $1,000 to $1,600 coast to coast for a sedan, a bit more for an SUV or truck.
Enclosed carrier, fully covered and protected from weather and road debris, usually costs 30 to 60 percent more, so closer to $1,800 to $2,500. Worth it for a classic car, overkill for a daily driver.
Get quotes from at least two or three licensed carriers, and be cautious of anyone asking for a large deposit before your pickup is even scheduled.
The Scenic Route
Make the Drive Your Adventure
If you're not in a rush, most of the drive from Southern California to Knoxville follows a single highway, Interstate 40, nearly the entire way. Here's a slower, more scenic version of the trip if you want to turn it into a real family road trip instead of a race to the finish:
Day 1: Long Beach to Flagstaff, Arizona
About 480 miles. Worth a detour to the Grand Canyon if you have an extra day to spare.
Day 2: Flagstaff to Albuquerque, New Mexico
About 325 miles. Old Town Albuquerque is a nice stretch the legs stop.
Day 3: Albuquerque to Amarillo, Texas
About 285 miles. Cadillac Ranch is a strange, wonderful roadside stop the kids won't forget.
Day 4: Amarillo to Oklahoma City
About 260 miles.
Day 5: Oklahoma City to Memphis, Tennessee
About 460 miles. Beale Street and the Memphis Zoo make for a good overnight stop.
Day 6: Memphis to Knoxville
About 390 miles, and you're home.
Moving with Pets
Driving
If you're bringing a dog or cat along for the drive, a few things make it easier on everyone. Get a vet visit scheduled before you leave, and bring a copy of current vaccination records, especially rabies, in case you need to board them along the way or visit a vet once you're here.
Keep them in a separate room during loading and unloading; an open front door and an anxious animal are a bad combination.
Update the phone number on their ID tag before you go, in case they slip out somewhere unfamiliar.
If you're stopping overnight, chains like La Quinta, Motel 6, Best Western, and Red Roof Inn are generally pet friendly and easy to find along most interstate routes. www.BringFido.com is also a great resource for pet friendly hotels, restaurants, rest stops, dog parks, and anything else you may need along your route.
Flying
If you're flying to Knoxville, a few things are worth knowing well before your flight.
Most airlines require a health certificate from a vet, usually issued within 10 days of travel, so schedule that visit with enough buffer in case anything needs to be addressed first.
Book early too. Airlines cap how many pets are allowed in the cabin per flight, and small pets that fit under the seat in an airline approved carrier go much easier than a pet flying in cargo.
If cargo is your only option, ask about breed restrictions, because many airlines won't fly short nosed breeds like bulldogs or pugs in the cargo hold due to breathing risks. Check for seasonal temperature embargoes, since extreme heat or cold can mean your pet's flight gets bumped.
A direct flight is worth paying a little more, since it cuts down on the stress of layovers and gate changes. Skip the sedatives unless your vet specifically recommends one. Sedation can affect breathing and blood pressure at altitude in ways that make flying riskier, not calmer.
Tipping Your Movers
This one trips people up because there's no obvious rule, unlike a restaurant. For a long distance move, $50 to $100 per mover is a reasonable range, and it's common to tip the loading crew at pickup and the unloading crew separately at delivery, since long distance moves often use two different teams. Cash, given directly to each person rather than one lump sum to the crew lead, is the most appreciated way to do it.
Once You're Here
This is a set of checklists and information to prepare yourself for a large relocation, like a toolkit.
The primary provider for electric, water, gas, and wastewater service across most of the Knoxville area.
The City of Knoxville has trash and recycling pickup schedules and drop off center maps for anything outside your regular pickup.
Getting the lights on
Setting Up Utilities in Your New Home
Moving to Knoxville is an exciting chapter. Use this structured guide to ensure your transition into your new space is smooth, organized, and stress-free.
Check availability for AT&T Fiber, Comcast, and a few local municipal providers, availability varies quite a bit by neighborhood, so it's worth checking your specific address early.
Before You Unpack
The Moment You Get Your Keys
- test every smoke and carbon monoxide detector
- locate the water shutoff valve
- locate the breaker box
- change the locks and garage codes
Have the New House Cleaned Before You Move In
If it fits your budget, a professional deep clean before your furniture arrives is worth it. An empty house is dramatically easier to clean than one that's already full of boxes and furniture, and there's something nice about walking into a completely fresh space on day one instead of cleaning around everything you just unloaded.
Change of Address
Beyond Mail Forwarding
Mail forwarding covers the obvious stuff, but a few places don't check your forwarding address, they just keep mailing to the old one until you tell them directly. Update your address with the DMV, your bank, your insurance provider, your employer's HR department, and your voter registration. It's also worth a quick pass through your subscriptions and auto pay accounts, since those are the ones people forget until a bill quietly goes missing for a month. For the actual deadlines on your driver's license, vehicle registration, and voter registration, see the New Resident Starter Kit below.