Disclosure/Privacy

Privacy Policy, Terms of Service & Disclosure
Last Updated: October 14, 2025

This policy is valid from 13 September 2011
1. Disclosure Policy

This blog, Mess for Less, is a personal blog written and edited by me. It accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions, or other forms of compensation.

I believe in honesty of relationship, opinion, and identity. While compensation may influence the content, it will always be clearly marked as paid or sponsored. I only recommend products and services I personally believe in and feel would be useful to you.

I may be compensated to provide opinions on products, services, websites, and other topics. Even when paid, all views and opinions are my own. Any product claims, stats, or representations should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

This blog participates in affiliate programs, including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. That means if you click on a product link and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission - at no additional cost to you.

2. Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to me. This section explains how I collect, use, and protect your personal information.

What Information Do We Collect?

Name and email when you subscribe or comment
Browser and usage data via cookies and analytics tools
IP address and device info via log files

When Do We Collect Information?

When you sign up for emails or giveaways
When you browse or interact with the site
When you click on links, ads, or affiliate content

How Do We Use Your Information?

To personalize your experience
To send newsletters and respond to inquiries
To improve content and site performance

3. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

Yes, this site uses cookies and tracking pixels.

These help remember your preferences, analyze traffic, and deliver ads that may interest you. You can disable cookies via your browser settings, but this may affect site functionality.

We use tools like Google Analytics and may share non-personally identifiable data with trusted third parties for advertising and analytics.

4. Google Analytics & Advertising Partners

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site. You can review Google's data practices here.

We also partner with:

Google AdSense
Amazon
Awin
Impact Radius
Rakuten

These partners may use cookies to serve personalized ads based on your interests and browsing behavior.

5. Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

Know what data we collect
Request deletion of your data
Opt out of data sharing or "sale"

To exercise these rights, email me at: Vicky@messforless.net

6. Advertising Privacy Statement

Advertising
CMI Marketing, Inc., d/b/a Raptive ("Raptive") is a service provider of this Site for placing advertising. Raptive collects and uses certain data for advertising purposes.
To learn more about Raptive's data usage, click here: https://raptive.com/creator-advertising-privacy-statement

7. Third-Party Links

Sometimes I share links to other sites. I can't be responsible for their privacy policies or content. Please read their policies if you visit them.

8. Children's Privacy (COPPA)

This site does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe your child has provided personal data here, please contact me immediately.

9. Data Security

Your information is stored securely and only accessible to those who need it. I use standard security measures including SSL encryption and malware scanning. No financial info is collected or stored on this site.

10. Terms of Service

By using this site, you agree to the following terms:

By using this site, you consent to the collection and use of your data as outlined in this policy.

Limitation of Liability

I am not liable for any damages arising from your use of this site, including errors or omissions in content.

11. Contact

For questions about this policy or your personal data, contact: Vicky
Vicky@messforless.net

12. Changes to This Policy

If this policy changes, I'll update the date at the top of the page. I encourage you to review it periodically.

By continuing to use this site, you accept the terms of this combined Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Disclosure.

This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their 'Personally Identifiable Information' (PII) is being used online. PII, as described in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.

What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our blog, website or app?

When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address or other details to help you with your experience.

When do we collect information?

We collect information from you when you register on our site, subscribe to a newsletter or enter information on our site.

How do we use your information?

We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:

• To personalize your experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.

• To send periodic emails regarding your order or other products and services.

How do we protect your information?

We do not use vulnerability scanning and/or scanning to PCI standards.

We only provide articles and information. We never ask for credit card numbers.

We use regular Malware Scanning.

Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

We implement a variety of security measures when a user enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.

All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.

Do we use 'cookies'?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site's or service provider's systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.

We use cookies to:

• Understand and save user's preferences for future visits.

• Keep track of advertisements.

• Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf.

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since browser is a little different, look at your browser's Help Menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.

If users disable cookies in their browser:

If you turn cookies off it will turn off some of the features of the site.

Third-party disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your Personally Identifiable Information unless we provide users with advance notice. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or serving our users, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release information when it's release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others' rights, property or safety.

However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

Third-party links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on our website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Google

Google's advertising requirements can be summed up by Google's Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users. https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1316548?hl=en

We use Google AdSense Advertising on our website.

Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on previous visits to our site and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt-out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google Ad and Content Network privacy policy.

We have implemented the following:

• Remarketing with Google AdSense

• Google Display Network Impression Reporting

• Demographics and Interests Reporting

• DoubleClick Platform Integration

We, along with third-party vendors such as Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions and other ad service functions as they relate to our website.

Opting out:
Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out page or by using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on.

California Online Privacy Protection Act

CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law's reach stretches well beyond California to require any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting Personally Identifiable Information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals or companies with whom it is being shared. - See more at: http://consumercal.org/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa/#sthash.0FdRbT51.dpuf

According to CalOPPA, we agree to the following:

Users can visit our site anonymously.

Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page or as a minimum, on the first significant page after entering our website.

Our Privacy Policy link includes the word 'Privacy' and can easily be found on the page specified above.

You will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes:

• On our Privacy Policy Page

Can change your personal information:

• By emailing us

How does our site handle Do Not Track signals?

We honor Do Not Track signals and Do Not Track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.

Does our site allow third-party behavioral tracking?

It's also important to note that we allow third-party behavioral tracking

COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)

When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under the age of 13 years old, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, United States' consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children's privacy and safety online.

We do not specifically market to children under the age of 13 years old.

Do we let third-parties, including ad networks or plug-ins collect PII from children under 13?

Fair Information Practices

The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.

In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur:

We will notify you via email

• Within 72 hours

We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle which requires that individuals have the right to legally pursue enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.

We use Google Display Search and Remarketing for data collection. You can opt out here.

We participate in Stay 22. You can read their privacy policy here.