San Francisco TikToker Demi Skipper has been in the market for a new home for a while now. In the process, she was inspired by the 2006 One Red Paperclip project, in which blogger Kyle MacDonald traded up for a home after 14 trades, starting with a red paperclip. Skipper opted for a single bobby pin as her first item, and a year and a half and 28 trades later, she has a modest home near Nashville!
This week, Skipper posted her final trade: An off-the-grid trailer with solar panels in exchange for a fixer-upper home! The video shows her running to the house in excitement, saying, “I can’t believe this. A year and a half of trading a single bobby pin until I get a house… and I’ve done it. And look at it! This just shows you, it’s possible.”
Here’s a rundown of the trades Skipper went through to get up to this point:
- Single bobby pin
- Earrings
- Set of 4 margarita glasses
- Bissell vacuum cleaner
- Snowboard
- Apple TV 4K
- Bose noise-canceling headphones
- Xbox One + 2 games + 2 controllers + Kinect sensor bar
- MacBook Pro 2011
- Canon camera set
- Off White Nike Blazers
- Off White Nike Hyperdunks
- Jordan 1 Reverse Shattered Backboards
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- 2008 Dodge Caravan
- Boosted Board V3 Plus
- 15-inch MacBook Pro 2017
- Electric Bike Food Truck
- 2006 Mini Cooper
- $19,500 necklace
- Peloton B3
- Ford Mustang GT Deluxe
- 2011 Jeep Patriot
- Tiny Cabin
- Honda CRV
- 3 tractors
- Chipotle celebrity card (Chipotle every day for a year, plus catered dinner for 50)
- Off-the-grid trailer with solar panels
- A house!
For several of the items, they required some upgrading on Skipper’s part in order to trade up. This included car detailing, refurbishing parts of the tiny cabin, repainting, and more.
“There were just so many negative people saying it wasn’t possible. I was willing to do this for five years if that’s what it took to get to the house,” Skipper said, according to ABC7.
Learn more about Skipper’s story by following her at @trademeproject on Instagram and TikTok.
Featured image: @trademeproject via Instagram