Family and Resource Management Overview

Family and Resource Management

• Family and Resource Management is a discipline focused on managing resources from a family systems perspective.
• Careers in this field include consumer advocates, social workers, family therapists, event planners, educators, entrepreneurs, and personal/home care practitioners.
• Management involves using available resources (time, money, energy) to achieve goals.
• Family and Resource Management considers both human (time, talents, energy, health, knowledge, work capacity attitudes) and non-human (money, community resources, space, material possessions) resources.

Managing Time

• Time is the duration of an activity's interval.
• Time management is the ability to complete tasks within available time.
• Planning a schedule is a good time management approach.

Managing Energy

• Energy is the ability to work.
• Personal energy and the ability to complete tasks can be managed by planning activities and tasks.

Managing Skills

• Skill is the ability to perform tasks.
• Developing skills can lead to more efficient use of other resources (time, energy).

Managing Money

• Budgeting is crucial for maximizing money's benefits while working towards goals.
• Budgeting involves planning spending to understand available resources.
• The most effective method to manage money is to have a budget.

Household Equipment Management

• As cooking, cleaning, and washing skills develop, using more household equipment is common.
• Instructions for equipment use should be carefully reviewed and kept in a central location for quick reference.

What is a Family?

• A family is a group of people related by blood, marriage, or adoption, living together in the same house.
• Family members interact within social positions (spouses, parents, children, siblings).
• Different types of families exist: single-parent, nuclear, extended, sibling household, and blended families.

Family Roles and Functions

• Family provides comfort, love, and security.
• Roles include caregiver, breadwinner, nurturer, disciplinarian, and role model.

Laundry Work

• Laundry work includes washing, dry-cleaning, treating, and finishing household and personal items.
• Laundry is important for health, appearance, and to remove dirt and stains.

Laundry Equipment and Materials

• Laundry equipment includes washing machines, scrubbing boards, laundry brushes, wash tubs, dryers, clotheslines, pegs, baskets, ironing boards, irons, and hangers.
• Laundry materials include detergents and whiteners.

Water

• Water is essential for life and comes from various sources like streams, rivers, lakes, wells, springs, and collected rainwater.
• Hard water contains minerals making it unsuitable for washing, wasting soap.
• Soft water lathers easily and is suitable for washing.
• Water softening plants and chemicals can be used to soften hard water.

Detergents

• Detergents are used to clean with water.
• Detergents can be categorized into soap and non-soap types (e.g. neutral, household, soap flakes, soap powder and soap jelly).
• Good detergents cleanse effectively, are harmless to fabric colors and materials, and do not leave residue on skin after use.