Cookie Policy

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that a website stores on your device to remember information about your visit — things like your settings or whether you’ve already seen a particular notice. Similar technologies (such as web beacons, pixels, and local storage) can serve the same purpose. We keep our use of them to a minimum, and this page lists every category you might encounter on Home Craft Blog.

How we use cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to remember your cookie-consent choice, to keep the site working properly, and — through Google AdSense — to support the ads that keep Home Craft Blog free. We do not use analytics or tracking cookies of our own.

Essential / strictly necessary

Necessary for the site to function — for example, remembering your cookie choice so we don’t ask again on every page. These don’t track you and can’t be switched off. Your consent selection is stored locally in your browser for six months.

Performance / analytics

We use Umami for analytics, which is cookieless. It sets no cookies, collects no personal data, and does not track you across sites — so there’s nothing here to opt out of. We use it only to see, in aggregate, which articles are popular.

Advertising / targeting

Google AdSense may set cookies to measure and (with consent) personalize the ads you see. If you decline, you’ll still see ads — just non-personalized ones. This may include Google’s DART / DoubleClick cookie, which serves ads based on your visits to this and other sites. We use Google Consent Mode v2 so your choice is respected before any ad cookie is set.

Functional

Functional cookies remember choices you make to give you a smoother experience (for example, a dismissed notice). We use very few of these, and only to make the site more convenient — never to track you.

Third-party cookies

Some cookies are set by third parties rather than by us. The main one is Google (AdSense), which as a third-party vendor uses cookies to serve and measure ads. Those cookies are governed by Google’s own policies; see the Google privacy & terms page. Our analytics provider, Umami, sets no cookies at all.

How to control cookies

You have several ways to manage cookies:

• Use the “Your Privacy Choices” button (bottom-left on every page) to review or change your ad-personalization choice at any time.
• Manage or delete cookies in your browser settings — see the guides for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
• Opt out of personalized Google ads at Google Ads Settings.
• Opt out of many third-party advertising vendors at the Network Advertising Initiative.
• Opt out through the Digital Advertising Alliance at YourAdChoices.
• Enable the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal in a supported browser, which we honor automatically as an opt-out. In California, we show a brief on-screen confirmation when a GPC signal is detected and honored.

Blocking some cookies may affect how ads are shown, but it won’t stop you from reading the site.

Consent management (Consent Mode v2)

We use Google Consent Mode v2 to respect your choice before any advertising cookie is set. How that choice is presented depends on where you are:

• EEA, UK, and Switzerland: ad personalization is off by default. Consent is collected through a Google-certified consent message, and you see non-personalized ads unless you opt in.
• Brazil and Quebec: ad personalization is off by default and we show an opt-in prompt in your language. You stay on non-personalized ads until you accept.
• United States and the rest of the world:you see personalized ads by default and can opt out at any time with the “Your Privacy Choices” button. We honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as an opt-out, and in California we show a brief confirmation when a GPC signal is detected and honored.

Your choice is stored locally in your browser and re-applied on future visits until it expires (after six months) or you change it through the “Your Privacy Choices” button.

Changes to this cookie policy

We may update this Cookie Policy as the site or the technologies we use change. Any updates take effect once posted here, and the “Last updated” date above will reflect the latest version.

Contact us

Questions about cookies? See our Privacy Policy for the bigger picture, or email us at maya@homecraftblog.com.