You do not have to empty a whole house in a weekend. You do have to stop a few categories of thing from being mixed into a general clearance. This list is practical, not sentimental.
Documents first
Wills, grants, death certificates, bank letters, pension paperwork, insurance policies, property deeds, passports and driving licences. Medical letters. Anything with account numbers. Look in the obvious drawers and the less obvious ones: the bureau, the kitchen drawer that holds batteries and string, the boxes under the bed.
If you find more paperwork during the clearance, it should be set aside, not bagged as waste. Still, the first search should be yours.
Small valuables
Jewellery, watches, coins, medals and cash. These hide in tins, purses, coat pockets and bedroom drawers. They are the items most often lost when a house is cleared in a hurry.
If you are unsure whether a piece is costume or not, keep it for a valuation. Guessing into a skip is a poor form of estate administration.
Photographs and personal records
Albums, loose envelopes of prints, slides, and the shoebox of letters. Digital cameras and old phones may hold more. You can decide what to keep later. You cannot decide once the box has gone.
Keys and access
House keys, shed keys, car keys, window locks, a neighbour’s spare. Label them. Cars and additional properties have a way of appearing after the main house is empty.
Medicines and identity
Return medicines to a pharmacy where you can. Do not leave controlled drugs in a house that will have contractors walking through it. Destroy or return identity documents you do not need to keep for the estate.
Things people regret later
A marked-up cookbook, a handmade card, tools that were used every week, a chair that looks ordinary and is not. You cannot keep everything. You can give yourself one extra hour in the rooms the person actually lived in — kitchen, bedroom, the chair by the window — before the rest is booked.
When you are ready for the bulk to leave, probate house clearance is the next step, not the first one.