A San Francisco woman who started with just a bobby pin and spent a year and a half trading it up for increasingly bigger and more valuable items has finally reached her goal — and is now the proud owner of a house in Tennessee.
Demi Skipper, 30, started the Trade Me Project on TikTok and Instagram on May 26, 2020 with the plan of making multiple trades to turn her worthless bobby pin into her own home — upgrading the bobby pin to shoes, electronics, and even cars along the way.
By last December, she’d traded up to a Wildbound Tiny Cabin — but she had her hear set on a bigger, more permanent home, and continued to trade up for a Honda CRV, three tractors, a Chipotle celebrity card, and a $40,000 trailer with a Tesla Powerwall 2.
Finally, on the day after Thanksgiving, she made her final trade, swapping the trailer for her very own house near Nashville which she and her husband will soon call home.
Demi Skipper (San Francisco) started the Trade Me Project in TikTok, Instagram, on May 26, 2020. She has since achieved her goal of trading one bobby pin to buy a house.
She made her last trade the day following Thanksgiving. Her keys were given to Nashville’s house, which she and her husband would soon call their home.
Start small. Demi began with a simple bobby pin. She traded it for larger and more valuable items.
Demi shared her TikTok story about how she had been looking for something during the pandemic and was struck by the idea.
In her first video, she stated that she was trading one bobby pin for another until she gets a house.
Using platforms like Craigslist, eBay, and Facebook, Demi is offering to trade one item at a time, with the intent of trading up little by little and eventually ending up with a house — all from that single bobby pin.
Over the course of 28 trades, she went from a bobby pin to earrings, to an Xbox One, to several cars, to a tiny cabin to the penultimate trade: a $40,000 trailer.
Recenty, she was able to purchase some really expensive items like three red tractors. She traded in for a Chipotle celebrity credit card through a sponsorship video, which helped her get closer to her goal.
She then traded that card — which netted a year of free food, plus a catered party — for a $40,000 trailer with a Tesla Powerwall 2.
Her story has been followed by millions, and she received a text late last month from a man in Tennessee who turns houses.
He stated that he was watching her trade up and wanted to help her end the journey by buying her a home for her trailer.
Now, she is celebrating becoming the proud owner of her house. It was sold to her by a home flipper who had followed her path.
Demi and her husband plan to move from California, Tennessee to be able to live in their house.
Demi delivered the trailer and flew to Nashville, where she drove to Clarksville to receive the keys to her new home.
She uploaded a December 11 video that shows her first sight of her home.
She exclaims, “Oh my God!” I can’t believe it. After trading one pin for a year, I finally got my house. And look at it, this just shows you — it’s possible!’
Demi told NBC News that it was a surreal experience.
“People have really doubted my abilities, and I sure did at times, during this journey,” she stated. “But, I learnt a lot about me in the process and was truly amazed at my persistence to keep it going.”
Demi and her husband are now planning to relocate from California to Tennessee to live in their house — and then she plans to start all over again, with the intention of donating the next home she scores to someone who needs it.
She stated that while there have been people who’ve done it before, no one is insane enough to repeat the feat twice.
Beginning: This was her first step. She traded the bobby pin to get a $10 pair of Marysol earrings. These were traded for four margarita glasses, each worth $24.
Slowly, she traded her glasses for a Bissell vacuum cleaner worth $60. After that, she was able to convince someone to clean their carpets to buy her a snowboard worth $95 for the vacuum.
Tech: She exchanged her snowboard for an Apple TV 4K worth $180: “This trade was particularly valuable to me.”
Moving up: She went on to trade the Apple TV for $220 Bose noise-cancelling headphones, and the headphones for an Xbox One, two games, two controllers, and a Kinect sensor bar
Demi started trading with baby steps. She traded her bobby pin to get a pair Marysol earrings for $10.
She traded those for a set of four margarita glasses worth $24, and those for a $60 Bissell vacuum cleaner.
Demi managed to convince someone who was in desperate need of carpet cleaning that she would give her a $95 vacuum and traded the snowboard for a $180 Apple TV 4,K.
She said that the trade she made was one of her most important.
The Apple TV was traded for the $220 Bose noise cancelling headphones. She also received two Xbox One games and two Kinect sensors bars valued at $320.
Demi then found a guy who ‘really wanted the Xbox’ — so much so that he was willing to trade her a MacBook Pro 2011 valued at $400.
She exchanged it for a Canon 550 camera set. This was the first thing she needed to buy, as she had to ship her laptop.
Demi then found a guy who ‘really wanted the Xbox’ — so much so that he was willing to trade her a MacBook Pro 2011 valued at $400. This was exchanged for a Canon 550 camera set
Sneaker land: That was followed by a $750 pair of Off White Nike Blazers in a men’s size nine
Stylish: Now swapping with sneaker lovers, she moved on to a pair of Off White Nike Hyperdunks (left) and Jordan 1 Reverse Shattered Backboards (right)
It’s a must-have: A person wanted to own the Backboards, so he bought an iPhone for trade.
This was followed by $750 worth of Off White Nike Blazers for men in size 9, a pair Off White Nike Hyperdunks and Jordan 1 Reverse Shattered Boards.
She was trapped in the “sneaker” game and made repeated trades for sneaker lovers. She wanted to get out, so when she found someone who desperately wanted those Jordan 1 Reverse Shattered Backboards, she told him what she wanted: an iPhone 11 Pro Max.
He went to buy the new phone. They made the trade.
Her next trade may not have been the biggest value, but it was certainly the most impressive at that point: She swapped that iPhone for a car — specifically, a 2008 Dodge Caravan.
She then traded the car for a $1,400 Boosted Board V3 Plus, and that for a 15” MacBook Pro 2017.
Beep, beep! Her next trade may not have been the biggest value, but it was certainly impressive: She swapped that iPhone for a car — specifically, a 2008 Dodge Caravan
Bit by bit: She traded the car for a $1,400 Boosted Board V3 Plus
Increased value: Most recently, she traded in for a 15” MacBook Pro 2017
Beep Beep! The next step was to swap the computer with an electric bike food trailer, which is valued between $1,800- $4,000.
“Can you believe that this MacBook Pro was once an old BOBBY pin?” She posted a picture of her new item on Instagram.
The next step was to swap the computer with an electric bike food trailer, which is valued between $1,800- $4,000.
She was so inspired by this, she decided to return to her love of cars and traded the bike in for a Mini Cooper convertible.
After she had traded her car in for a sapphire and diamond necklace valued at $19 500, she experienced a setback when she learned that the necklace’s retail value was only $2,500, despite its appraisal.
Still, she kept trading, swapping that necklace for a brand new Peloton workout bike, worth $1,895.
On the road: That got her back to cars, when she traded the bike for a Mini Cooper convertible
Bling: She exchanged the car for a sapphire and diamond necklace, with a retail price of $2,500
Fan of fitness: She swapped that for a Peloton which is nearly $2,000 in price
That Peloton was traded for a Mustang, which was traded for a 2011 Jeep Patriot with 145,000 miles on it, which was finally traded for her first taste of a home: a tiny cabin Wildbound Cabin Co.
According to the company’s website, those tiny pull-along cabins start at $9,500.
With enough room for both a counter and a bed, the interior of this dorm was roughly half the size of an average college dorm.
Next, she traded the cabin for a Honda CRV — which, it turned out, needed a bit of work. Because Demi was so popular, an auto shop offered to help her fix it.
The car was then sold to her for three red tractor, each valued at $37,000.
Chipotle was quick to reach out and offer the use of the trailers for farmers.
In return, they gave her a Chipotle celebrity card, which gives the cardholder free Chipotle for a year — as well as a catered dinner for 50.
Car club: A Mustang was purchased in exchange for the Peloton exercise bike
Bigger: She found someone to take the Mustang and give her a 2011 Jeep Patriot with 145,000 miles on it
This is what she’s doing! The Jeep was sold in exchange for the cabin. It is spacious enough to be used as a sleeping area.
The cabin was swapped for a Honda CR-V by her, and it needed some work. She got the Honda CR-V for free thanks to a sponsorship deal
Demi found a Chipotle superfan to take the card in exchange for off-the-grid trailer worth $40,000.
The paperwork took several weeks to obtain the trailer from Canada. However, she was able to show it once it arrived in the USA.
This impressive trailer includes a Tesla Powerwall 2 solar panel set of $10,000, and a walk in fridge. It also gets its entire power from the grid.
Demi was finally able to move into her house three weeks ago after renting a trailer.
Demi’s remarkable journey has been a huge success.
Demi stated that she was inspired to start her own business by Kyle MacDonald. He managed to convert a paperclip into a 2-story house in just 14 steps.
The car was traded for three red tractors valued at $37,000 each
Chipotle approached Chipotle about taking trailers from her for brand’s farmers.
They gave her a Chipotle celebrity credit, giving the cardholder unlimited Chipotle for one year and a 50-person catered dinner.
Demi found an Chipotle Superfan who would accept her card in return for $40,000 worth of off-the-grid trailer
This impressive trailer includes a Tesla Powerwall 2 solar panel system worth $10,000, as well as a walk in fridge. It gets its entire power from the off-grid.
Impressive: Demi said she was inspired by entrepreneur Kyle MacDonald, who managed to trade a red paperclip for a two-story farmhouse in 14 steps in 2006
MacDonald spent just a year on the 14 trades, going from the paperclip to a fish pen, a door knob, a coleman stove, a red generator, an ‘instant party kit,’ a Bombardier Mach 1 snowmobile, a holiday to Yahk, a cube van, Recording contract Arizona offers a free year of rental Alice Cooper spends the afternoon with you Kiss Snow Globe, A part in Donna on Demand.
After one year of internet bartering, Kyle — who was 26 at the time — completed the deal and moved into a two-story, three-bedroom farmhouse in Kipling, Canada.
“I’m very pleased. Although I haven’t been to Kipling yet, I’ve seen photos of the home and they look great. “It looks great,” he stated at that time.
Inspiration for this project came from a game called Bigger and Better that was played by children. As a child growing up in Vancouver suburbs, he saw kids go door to door looking for toys to exchange.
Unidentified software engineer (28 years old) from Northern Ireland wants to buy a pencil worth 1 million dollars.
Progress: He already traded his worthless object to get a box (12 DavidOff Nicaragua Diademas Cigars) worth $230 (pictured).
Step by step: The first item that was traded for the pencil was a single King Edwards cigar worth around $6.00
He stated that although he didn’t know the exact route or the time it would take to reach his goal house or the location of the house, he believed that if he kept going, a house will eventually be built.
Mayor Pat Jackson announced that Kipling made the offer to the public for publicity.
“We are just over 1100 people in a small village. Tourism is what we are trying to encourage. You never know, someone might think that this is a great place to visit and move there. He said, “That would be wonderful.”
MacDonald inspired many others to also make huge trades.
Unidentified software engineer in Northern Ireland started trading with an old pencil. Now he has a hand-crafted table valued at hundreds of thousands.
He is on a quest to assist people in crisis by trading his way to one million dollars online. The proceeds will be donated to charity.
He worked his way up. Next, Mikael Lindnord gave him a signed book for children. It was worth approximately $25
It’s all fun and games! The third gift was a trio of Rubik’s Cubes, each worth $29.99. Also included were some stickers.
After the pencil was found in the bag of the victim, the project started in October.
First, he exchanged it for a King Edwards cigar for $6.00. Next, he swapped the King Edwards for a signed children’s book from author Mikael Linnord valued at about $25. Finally, a set worth $29.99 was traded for that Rubik’s cubes.
The anonymous man continues to trade, getting a box of 12 DavidOff Nicaragua Diademas Cigars priced at $230; a rare, out-of-print hardback copy of Buffy Season 9, Volume 3; and a Skinny Dip London gift card for $325.
The last time he updated was April. He traded his gift card to get a Live Edge Walnut side tables that were handcrafted in Ohio.
According to the anonymous trader, it will take 10 years for him to reach a million dollars. He has been given bizarre goods, including guns and sex toys.
Metro spoke with him and he stated that he has to be careful about what he trades. He is always looking for something that will appeal to many people. I am in negotiations right now.’