Noreen Faye A.

Duante

Rosaliah Zen G. Jimenez

FLCD 175: Home Management

1. What is the goal of family resource management? Why is it considered a complex

process?

The goal of family resource management is to help people, specifically families, to understand

how to make decisions in managing and allocating their resources for both survival and

fulfillment of needs. There are several interdependent factors to be considered in family resource

management, making it a complex process. Some of these include the availability of resources,

family values, individual needs, and external/environmental forces like social issues, government

policies, culture etc. These factors are always changing over time, therefore family resource

management is an active and dynamic process. Moreover, given that there are limited resources,

decision-making becomes more complex since individual and group needs and interests are to be

considered. Decisions like resource identification and selection, must be evaluated carefully

since they affect future decisions.

2. What are the different types of family resources? Define, describe, and give examples for

each type of resource.

Four types of resources are described in the book – human, economic, environmental and social

resources. Human resources are the assets that are unique to people which enrich their lives and

those around them. Examples of this include human wisdom, experience, skill, labor, and

Noreen Faye A. Duante, Rosaliah Zen G. Jimenez

FLCD 175: Home Management
enterprise. Time as a resource was also discussed under human resources since it is the most

fundamental resource under a person’s control.

Economic resources are the basic inputs or component parts of an economy like land, labor, and

capital or money. These resources are gained either by acquisition or inheritance. Typically,

members of the family earn money by working.

Environmental resources are anything that an organism needs that can be taken from the

environment. These are categorized under renewable or nonrenewable resources. Renewable

resources are those that can be used time and again without getting depleted like the sun and the

wind. Nonrenewable resources are those that are available in limited quantity. Examples of these

include minerals and fossil fuels.

Social resources are those that are felt and collectively owned. These are found both inside the

family and outside the family but affect them. Some examples of social resources found inside

the family are the ability to effectively communicate with each other, caring for and meeting the

needs of family members, passing on of history etc. On the other hand, social resources found

outside the family include the family’s ability to connect and utilize social resources available in

the community like programs, facilities, and other services.

3. What factors affect the way families use their resources? How do these factors influence

the way families manage their resources?

Noreen Faye A. Duante, Rosaliah Zen G. Jimenez

FLCD 175: Home Management
One's home management is heavily shaped and altered by the following factors: history, culture,

and environment. These factors influence, and in some other cases, dictate, how these resources

are to be used, allocated, and managed.

As wars, recessions, sexism, fight for equality, changes in society’s and one’s values, standards,

and living conditions all contribute to the rapid development of home management, it is in

agreement with Moore and Asay that yes, families do evolve. Given their ever- dynamic

structures and management, they evolve alongside history. It can be said that as much as history

concerns a larger sphere, families adapt and in other cases, their homes and their management of

it become reflections of what had transpired in history.

With how this harsh world is keen on keeping the lines clear among the different socioeconomic

status and with how we are settling in different geographical locations, the resources available to

families most often than not come in limited amount; everything will not always be readily made

available and accessible to everyone. This is what the authors meant by including the

environmental factors as resource management influencers.

Culture, and the values it puts in a pedestal, will always be embedded in a family. As two

individuals from different families of origins form a family of procreation, they would bring

different cultures and views with them. In here, they would come to see how their upbringing

would affect the choices they make as a family.

Noreen Faye A. Duante, Rosaliah Zen G. Jimenez

FLCD 175: Home Management
4. Given and using the basic assumptions of Consumer Resource Exchange Model (CREM), (1)

identify a need, and (2) discuss how you fulfill this need through management of different

resources available to you.

DUANTE:

It is known to everyone close to our family that we do place high importance on Physiological

Needs. We concur with Maslow and his theory as we believe that in order to function in a day-

to-day basis, such needs are well, needed to be met before anything else. In this case, I’m going

to use the need for nutrition and health. A healthy life for our family constitute of us having a

balanced diet, going on a daily (or every other day) exercise, getting enough sleep (this, I break

most of the time), and adhering to our religion’s health code.

I may be not be as thrifty as my mother but I ever since I started living separately from my

family (with them staying in Bulacan), I made sure to not buy anything impulsively anymore

(I’m still working on it) as I see my parents’ money as a very important resource that must not be

simply wasted. With that money, I make sure to budget and plan my meals ahead. With it also

comes another resource: food. Buying ingredients that can be used in several meals is proven to

be helpful especially to a college student like me. It is in such planning that makes me realise

how wasteful I was before, as most of the produce that I bought were not used accordingly. In

Another resource that I make use of is today's technology. Instead of having a gym membership

for a while, I opt to exercise at home instead; I watch and follow the routines given by several

fitness gurus in Youtube. These are examples of the resources that I can think off the top of my

head for now.

Noreen Faye A. Duante, Rosaliah Zen G. Jimenez

FLCD 175: Home Management
JIMENEZ:

Physiological needs like food, exercise, sleep etc. are the most basic/fundamental needs,

especially since without them, I wouldn’t be able to efficiently function. Closely related with this

need is money or financial resources. Every week, I have to manage and budget the allowance

that I receive from my parents. I do this by prioritizing food, toiletries, and fare first before

allocating money for leisure activities like watching a movie or buying clothes. I also set aside

money for my savings.

Human resources like energy, skills and wisdom, are resources that I rely on to fulfill my

physiological needs. For example, in order to budget my money for food, I need to have the

skills and knowledge which are based mostly on experience since I have been budgeting my

money for the past 4 years. Additionally, when it comes to getting enough sleep, I also need the

knowledge of managing my time properly.

4. Bonus (per pair): Critique/ Comment on the authors' discussion on either of the

following: CREM, Measuring Satisfaction of Needs, or Resource Allocation and Use.

Measuring Satisfaction of Needs

One of the highlights that we gathered from the section is the fact that we have different set of

goals, standards, and values individually and per family. This explains why one’s satisfactions

Noreen Faye A. Duante, Rosaliah Zen G. Jimenez

FLCD 175: Home Management
can not be measured easily. Such measurement is what I believe to be subjective or each to his

own.

We also agreed in Coverdill’s statement: “... quality of life is dependent on circumstances and is

constantly changing.” The complexity of individuals and families as previously mentioned

supports this.

“Comparing what you have to what other people have is one way to evaluate where you stand in

society.”

DUANTE: I get that the author meant the use of relative deprivation in a harmless manner, but

shouldn’t one be encouraged to focus more on one’s own competence, instead of masking

competition as motivation?

JIMENEZ: This statement relates to the concept of privilege which always has an advantage no

matter what. For example, even though two individuals graduate from the same course in

college, the person who has social advantage brought about by money/privilege will most likely

get a better job since he/she has better connections.

Noreen Faye A. Duante, Rosaliah Zen G. Jimenez

FLCD 175: Home Management