How a TikToker Traded Her Way From a Bobby Pin to Her Dream House

30-year-old Demi Skipper became an overnight social media sensation when she started her Trade Me Project on TikTok. The San Francisco resident aimed to trade her way from a singular small item all the way up to a house!

And guess what she used as the starter object? A one-cent bobby pin which she listed on Craigslist! It’s true that you can truly achieve great things – even with the humblest of beginnings.

This project was inspired by Kyle McDonald, a famous blogger, who brought forth this concept in 2005. Over the course of 14 transactions, he managed to get a two-story farmhouse, even after starting the trade with a single red paperclip.

Kyle was hailed as a star for completing this feat, even going on to give a TED Talk regarding his experience and all he learned. Demi watched a video of his and was inspired to do something similar.

Along the way, Demi followed a couple of rules to keep things running smoothly. Her two major ones were that no money should be exchanged in the name of trade, and the second was that she couldn’t trade with somebody she already knew.

It took her just around one and a half years to get to her ultimate goal of getting a house in her trade! Here are the 28 trades that Demi made to get her hands on the end prize.

For her first foray into the world of trading, Demi listed her bobby pin, which actually cost all of one cent, on Craigslist. Since this was her first trade, she didn’t have much hope, but the response turned out to be better than anticipated.

A woman reached out to Demi, agreeing to swap the bobby pin for a set of gorgeous pink earrings, which were worth $10 – almost a thousand times the price of the Bobby pin!

The beautiful pink earrings were a great start for Demi, and they turned into an even better one with her next trade. Demi was able to cop a set of four glasses in exchange for the earrings.

The increase in value, you ask? The $10 item went for $24! For Demi, who calls herself a natural-born hustler, this was indeed shaping up to be a pretty good plan already.

Demi regularly scoured the internet, looking for items that went for far more than their actual value. This way, she knew what things people were looking for most.

Her next exchange took a technological turn, and her simple glasses were traded for a vacuum cleaner. The cleaner was priced at $60, making her one-cent beginning worth much more than could’ve been imagined.

Her fourth trade brought Demi a joyful travel item, but only for when she was in the mountains. She was able to secure a snowboard valued at $95! That was a truly gorgeous find!

However, it wasn’t easy to find people interested in trading down. Demi spent hours and hours on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist, messaging people in an attempt to involve them in her journey. Most of the answers she received stated that people weren’t interested.

With trade five, Demi officially entered the big leagues – the triple digits! Her $95 snowboard went for an Apple TV 4K, which was priced at $180 – almost double the price of the snowboard!

How, you ask, does such a thing happen? Well, Demi came across a guy who was set to go to the mountains over the weekend and needed the snowboard badly. This one trade squarely boosted Demi’s confidence and made her believe in her project.

For Demi, the options weren’t equal every single time. Some trades attracted thousands of responses, giving her plenty to choose from. But some listings got almost next to none, making things much more difficult.

For her sixth trade, Demi’s price jump was tiny in comparison, only increasing from $180 to $220. The item in question? A pair of noise-canceling headphones. It might not be a big increase, but the product in question was still a win for her.

Her next trade was something that would make gamers salivate over the beauty of it! For her headphones, Demi was able to obtain an Xbox One, complete with two controllers, two games, and a Kinect sensor bar.

Now, that’s what we call a complete steal! The entire set was valued at $320 at retail and was Demi’s largest jump up till now – a jump of a direct $100!

At this point, Skipper’s follower count had climbed from thousands to millions. Everybody tuned in to see what and how she’d be able to climb up further. The videos were slowly gaining traction, and Demi’s trades were getting bigger and better.

For her next exchange, Demi traded the entire Xbox set she had for a 2011 MacBook Pro. This version of the popular laptop was retailed at $400.

For her next swap, the 2011 MacBook Pro laptop was sent off in exchange for a Canon T6 with accessories, retailing at $550 in the market.

The set included a camera, lenses, battery, chip, and much more. By this time, Demi was spending over 40 hours a week on the project, which was a feat in itself since she was also working full-time at her actual job.

You can’t see through to the end of such a show without setting your sights on some truly collectible items. So, of course, it was time for some sneakers! Sneakerheads are a breed unto themselves, and they’ll do anything to get their hands on what they love.

This is why Demi’s next trade was a push in the right direction. She was able to get a pair of Nike Blazers, worth $750, in place of the camera set that she had. The size nine men’s shoes were worth a pretty penny, for sure. Now, this is what we call a master stroke!

Demi’s first pair of sneakers got exchanged for a second, slightly more expensive pair. The size nine Nike Blazers were copped by somebody who offered the Nike Hyperdunks instead. The difference between the two pairs was $100, with the Hyperdunks at a retail value of $850.

By now, Demi was deeply entrenched in the world of sneakers, spending day and night in online groups for sneakerheads looking to make deals. This journey also allowed her to connect with people she might never have even met in her regular life.

The world of sneakers was at an all-time high during these trades, with the precious ones being bargained for left and right. People were ready to pay a huge amount for the ones they wanted, and Demi had a lot of fun getting the right deals for her pair.

In yet another episode of her sneaker streak, Demi’s next swap also turned out to be sneakers. Her Nike Hyperdunks went for a pair of Jordan 1 Reverse Shattered Backboards, which retailed at $950.

With her thirteenth trade, Demi hit a number she probably hadn’t thought she’d easily reach – four digits! Even though her trade for the Jordans wasn’t very high, it still put her squarely in a higher category.

For the sneakers, Demi was able to snag an iPhone 11 Pro Max. That’s not a bad trade at all! The phone retailed for $1,050, which was a milestone number for the woman who wanted to do what barely anybody had ever done before.

Just as every project has its ups and downs, Demi’s fourteenth trade became her first downfall. For her iPhone 11 Pro Max, Demi got a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. The size of the item might have been massive, but the price sadly couldn’t live up to the size.

From the $1,050 price tag, her swap turned her item value to $1,000. Even with this setback, all wasn’t lost. Demi had gained momentum, and the eyes of a large community, helping her get bigger and better trades every day.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing with the items she managed to snag. Her new car wouldn’t start the morning after the trade, prompting her to reach out to her followers for help via a video, in which she showed the underside of the car.

A mechanic saw the clip and explained to her how she could fix the car, which she promptly did. She then proceeded to trade the now-running car for an electric skateboard, which was valued at $1,200.

For her next swap, Demi came across David Fogel, who was looking for an electric skateboard. The Jacksonville resident was quite impressed with Demi’s project and even had a MacBook to spare!

So, he agreed to the trade, and Demi now had a fairly new MacBook Pro, which was retailed at around $1,800! Sadly, alongside such encouraging people, Demi also came across quite a lot of trolls who tried to make her out to be a scammer. Undeterred, the hustler moved forward and looked for the next thing.

The gap between the MacBook and its trade-off, a food cart bike, was quite massive. Feras Bashnak was moved by Demi’s idea of giving the food cart to somebody who truly needed it.

So, he decided to participate in the trade and parted with one of his bikes, which retailed at around $3,800, for a MacBook Pro, which was almost half its price. The 28-year-old entrepreneur was excited to be a part of this journey and was eagerly waiting to see what would happen – just like all of Demi’s other followers.

For her eighteenth trade, Demi searched high and low. She drove the bike around the streets with her message, looking for the right buyer, finally finding one in North Carolina.

She shipped off the food bike to the trader’s state, in return for which he sent her what was probably her most ambitious item until now – a 2006 Mini Cooper Convertible! In just three months, Demi had managed to turn the bobby pin into a $5,000 car by sheer determination! Sadly, the worst was yet to come, and it came in the next trade.

Even though Demi made sure to verify all her trades before finally locking it down, sometimes she lost out on valuation. Her biggest setback came in her nineteenth trade when she traded her $5,000 car for a necklace, which she thought was valued at around $20,000.

The necklace, however, turned out to be priced at just around $1,200, slashing Demi’s trade values to less than half and putting a major damper on her progress. However, the lady was determined, and for her, the question wasn’t if she’d get to the end – but when she’d get to the end.

Even after suffering a massive blow, Demi pushed ahead. She regathered her courage and determination and started searching high and low for a suitable trade for the undervalued necklace.

Thankfully, she found somebody and got a brand new Peloton bike in place of the necklace. The bike was valued at around $2,000 and was a rare commodity at the time, making it even more valuable to people. With this, Demi found herself back on track and hunting for the best trades!

The Trade Me Project family had grown by leaps and bounds by now, and so had the scope of the places the trades came from. After a long search, Demi was able to find the perfect trade for the Peleton – a 2006 Ford Mustang GT Deluxe.

Even though the car was an older model with a lot of miles on it, it was still an absolutely stunning one to have in her repertoire. After a little fixing, the car was ready to be sent out for a trade with a value of $4,500.

For making this trade, Demi undertook the help of the Trade Me Project fan base, who were now spread far and wide. After looking for a long time, Demi finally found a trade-up for her Ford, but it was all the way in Pennsylvania.

So, she reached out to her followers, and two of them drove the Ford Mustang for an hour and half to the destination where the next trade awaited – a 2011 Jeep Patriot Sport, valued at $6,000.

After twenty-three trades, Demi finally found what could be called a house – albeit loosely. A company called Wildbound Cabins, decided to trade her 2011 Jeep for one of their very own tiny cabins!

The detachable cabin was priced at a cool $10,000. At this point, Demi was sure of her success and that it was coming soon! Her millions of followers urged her on, and her husband became her biggest supporter in her experience of a lifetime.

Before the next trade, Demi and one of her followers entirely redid the cabin. However, the cabin became quite a tough sell, and after almost 2,000 messages and multiple failed deals, Demi finally found a buyer.

The cabin was traded to somebody all the way in Arizona, who got it in exchange for a 2011 Honda CRV. The price jump was minimal, with the car being valued at only $11,500, but it was still quite an achievement. For Demi, the entire project was a way to spread happiness in the world.

Demi’s trades were getting bigger. In fact, they were getting so big that for her next one, she had to rent an entire storage unit! The Honda CRV brought Demi not one, not two, but three large tractors!

The tractors were in amazing condition and together were valued at around $12,600. Demi, who also owns a rental wedding dress business, has always loved doing offbeat side hustles. This one, according to her, is the one that was changing her life the most, day by day.

This trade became Demi’s biggest and most interesting trade of all time! Chipotle reached out to Demi for her tractors as a part of their extensive work with farmers, and they were ready for a trade.

Once they were satisfied with the tractors, they offered Demi something money couldn’t buy – a Chipotle Celebrity Card. The card, only offered to celebrities and superfans, allows the holder to indulge in a year of free food from the company. The value of the card? Almost $19,000!

The last trades for Demi turned out to be more difficult than she might have anticipated. Not only did she get quite a lot of hate for her last trade, but she also faced quite a lot of problems looking for proper traders.

She even reached out to former party girl Paris Hilton for a trade via email, which Paris graciously declined. After months of looking, Demi stumbled upon the perfect person for the card – all the way up in Canada!

For her first international trade, Demi found a trader in Canada who was the self-proclaimed number-one fan of the burrito place. She made Demi a trade offer better than she could’ve imagined – an off-grid trailer valued at $40,000!

Demi agreed, of course, and the trade was set! The trailer came with a Tesla power wall, a refrigerator, and a solar panel. Things honestly couldn’t have looked better at the moment, but a long, long pause was coming for Demi in her trade journey from a bobby pin to a house.

Since this was Demi’s first international trade, it was also her first time facing the issues that came along with it. When the trade was finalized, it was deemed that it would take almost five months for the trailer to cross over from Canada to the United States.

Over those months, Demi worked tirelessly to get the papers in order to get the trailer. She also kept an eye out for a storage space in Seattle to store the trailer once it got there.

While the trailer was yet to arrive, Demi’s search for the next trade was on, and she hit the jackpot this time around! A couple in Clarksville showed interest in the trailer, which they wanted to give away in a Great Food Truck Race-inspired competition.

Their counteroffer? A house in Tennessee worth $80,000! Even though Demi was at first dubious of the validity of the trade, it turned out to be all true and good in the end, and the dreamer was finally at the end of her trading journey!

The house was a two-bedroom place in Clarksville. Demi, who had spent almost a year and a half on the project, said that she cried in the front yard when she realized that her long journey was at an end.

The best coincidence was that the trade happened on none other than Thanksgiving! What better day is there to reach such a heartwarming milestone? The 750-acre house was the perfect place to end her quest of going from a bobby pin to a house.

Demi and her husband moved to Tennessee to ensure that they could do some renovations, after which they wanted to give the house away to somebody. The catch? The person would be trading a bobby pin for the house!

Yes, you read that right! Since she’d successfully done the journey once, Demi decided to re-embark on the journey by giving away the house to somebody in need – in exchange for a bobby pin.

Demi took to social media to ask people to send in their reasons for why they should get the house. After going through 2,000 emails from people wanting the house, Demi chose a Pennsylvania resident named Shay to be the new owner of the house.

In a symbolic gesture, Shay gave Demi a bobby pin while Demi gave her the keys to the house in Tennessee. So, the trading journey began again!

Demi’s aim is to do this thing twice, which would be a new feat since nobody’s ever done this twice before. Her first trade in her second round came from none other than Ellen DeGeneres, who promised her two tickets for her farewell season in exchange for the bobby pin.

So, the journey of the Trade Me Project began again, this time with a large legion of followers waiting to see where it would go.

In the past year, Demi has taken her second bobby pin and made 12 trades, making sure that people know it wasn’t all luck.

With her hard work, she’s traded the tickets for other items and has gone through a roster that includes a backpack, a Roomba, and a Nintendo Switch. It’s truly commendable how far she’s come, once again, in such a short period of time.

Not only did this project get Demi widespread popularity, but it even gave her a chance to try her hand at a new profession – writing! With so many requests pouring in every day asking for an explanation of how to do this, Demi decided to publish a book on the subject.

The book offers insights into Demi’s journeys, providing never-heard-before reasonings for many trades, stories, and even a handbook of how one can get such a project up and running by oneself!

In the past three years, Demi’s life has changed completely thanks to her dreams, which all started with a bobby pin. She gained worldwide recognition, made countless friends, and overcame challenges during her trading journey.

The journey also taught her that the only thing one can do during hardships or stagnancy is to keep going. And with those lessons in mind, she’s ready to do it all over again!