Book earlier than you would any other time of year, pick a date that sits between the holidays rather than beside them, and expect storage to bridge any gap your closing dates leave behind. Holiday moves usually fail on scheduling, not on packing, you know.
As one of the trusted movers on the Central Coast, we run household moves through every December. The families ASAP Movers gets through comfortably are the ones who fixed the date in October.
Pick the Date Around the Calendar, Not Around the Boxes
December compresses everything. School breaks, travel, year-end closings, and leases expiring on the thirty-first all land in the same three weeks.
That leaves a bit fewer workable days than the month suggests. The usable windows are the opening ten days of December, the stretch between the two holidays, and the opening week of January.
Work out which one your dates allow before you call anyone, and if you’re new to town, the things to know before moving to Santa Maria start with how fast December fills up. A closing on the twenty-second gives you different options than a lease ending on the thirty-first. The latter usually means moving in the quietest week of the year, with family in town.
Neither is a problem on its own, but both become one when the date gets chosen in late November, and every crew in Santa Maria, California is already committed.
Book Earlier Than You Think You Need To
Four to six weeks ahead is the standard guidance for a local move and six to eight for a long distance move. Add two weeks to both for anything in December. It’s one of several reasons to book a moving company early, because crews fill up, the end of the month goes first, and holiday schedules cut the working days a company has available.
Early booking buys more than a slot. It gives you a free in-home estimate while there is still time to act on what it turns up. The piano nobody measured, the upper floor with no elevator, the storage unit across town that also has to be emptied. Our moving coordinators would rather find those in October than on move day, and so would you.
When the Dates Do Not Line Up, Use Storage
Holiday closings slip. A sale meant to fund the purchase lands on January 2 instead of December 28. Suddenly the furniture needs somewhere to be for a week. That gap is ordinary, and it has an ordinary solution, even on a local moving job where both addresses sit close together.
Mover-held storage is simpler than renting a unit yourself, since the crew loads once instead of twice and the inventory stays with one company throughout. We hold goods at our Santa Maria warehouse between a move-out and a move-in, which covers the short gap and the longer one a renovation or a delayed build creates.
Ask about storage when you book rather than after a closing moves, because it’s a lot easier to set up in advance than to improvise.
Closing date still bouncing around in Santa Maria? Give us a call at (805) 544-9222, and we’ll hold a provisional slot while it firms up.
Packing With a House Full of Decorations and Guests
A decorated house is a harder house to pack, and the decorations are the part that gets handled worst. Glass ornaments and strings of lights end up loose in a box in the last hour because nobody planned for them. That’s kind of the whole problem, really.
- Pack the decorations you are not using this year first. They are already in boxes, and they will not be missed.
- Keep one holiday box open and labeled. Whatever is actually going on the tree or the table travels with you, not on the truck.
- Wrap ornaments the way you would wrap glassware. Individually in paper, standing in a divided carton, never loose in a bag.
- Photograph the light strings before you take them down. Untangling in January is a different experience without a reference.
- Keep a guest set out. Plates, towels, and bedding for whoever is visiting, boxed separately and loaded last.
Food is the other holiday-specific issue. Perishables cannot travel on a truck, and a full freezer in December is normal. Run it down through the month rather than solving it the night before.
Weather, Travel, and the Roads in Late December
Winter on the Central Coast means rain rather than snow, and the wet stretch runs from the middle of October into early May. A wet load is slower and needs more floor protection. Build that into the plan rather than finding out at nine in the morning. Crews work through it, but a December load that was scoped for dry conditions tends to run past its estimate.
Highway traffic is the other factor, particularly if the move crosses county lines or heads out of state over a holiday weekend. Long haul schedules tighten in late December, maybe more than you’d expect. An interstate move booked for that week wants its delivery window agreed in writing early.
Keeping the Holiday Itself Intact
The part people regret is not the logistics. It is getting to the twenty-fifth of December surrounded by sealed cartons with nothing unpacked that makes the day feel like a day. A small amount of planning prevents that.
Set aside one box that makes the new place feel occupied on arrival. The tree skirt, a few decorations, the good coffee, the pan you actually cook in. Load it last and unload it first.
If children are moving with you, let them pack their own box and carry it in themselves. Walking into an unfamiliar house holding something familiar changes how that opening night goes. Arrange for pets to be elsewhere during the load, since doors stand open for hours and December evenings get dark early.
Have questions about your dates, or just want to talk through the storage side first? Contact us, and we’ll help you figure out the right next step. You can also reach us at (805) 544-9222 or info@asapmovers.com. You’ll find us at 1310 W McCoy Ln, Santa Maria, CA 93455.
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