TikToker Demi Skipper trades up her hair pin to a house in 28 swaps

Virgin Radio

17 Dec 2021, 14:52

Imagine using a humble hair clip to land you a £60,000 house. Well, that is exactly what Demi Skipper did using her Trade Me Project.

The TikToker started the scheme on her social media pages on 26 May 2020 with the aim of trading up her worthless hair pin to a new home for her and her husband.

Over a year, she was able to upgrade the hair pin to a house making just 28 trades.

She went from shoes to electronics, a car and in December last year she eventually traded up to a Wildbound Tiny Cabin.

But, this wasn’t enough for Demi, who wanted a bigger and more permanent home.

From there, she traded her cabin for a Honda CRV, three tractors, a Chipotle celebrity card and a $40,000 trailer with a Tesla Powerwall 2.

Finally, on 26 November this year, Demi made her most important trade by swapping the trailer for a lovely £60,000 house near Nashville.

She used platforms like eBay, Facebook and Craigslist to trade the items one at a time and gradually build up to secure the house.

Among the 28 things she traded were earrings, an Xbox One, several cars, a tiny cabin and a $40,000 trailer. She also traded her Chipotle celebrity card, which offers holders a year's supply of food and a catered party.

In a TikTok video, Demi explained she started the scheme when she was bored during the pandemic.

Revealing the news to her followers, she said: “Oh my god. 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!”

In an interview with NBC News, the TikToker described the experience as “surreal”.

She continued: “People really have doubted me, and I certainly did at times during the journey, too.

“But I learned a lot about myself in the process, and I was really amazed by my ability to stick with it.”

Demi is now planning on relocating from California to Tennessee with her husband to live in their new house.

This isn’t the end of the road for her, though.

She is planning to start the process all over again with the intention of donating the next home she trades to someone who needs it.

She said: “There’s been a couple of people who have done this once, but no one’s crazy enough to do it twice.”

Demi documented her journey on her TikTok and Instagram page, and it quickly got people’s attention, with 5 million followers watching her.

She credited entrepreneur Kyle MacDonald as her inspiration for the scheme, who previously managed to trade a red paperclip for a two-story farmhouse in 14 steps in 2006.  

See all 28 items Demi traded below:

1. Bobby pin
2. Marysol earrings
3. Four margarita glasses
4. Bissell vacuum cleaner
5. Vision snowboard
6. Apple TV 4K
7. Bose noise-canceling headphones
8. Xbox One, two games, two controllers, and a Kinect sensor bar
9. Macbook Pro 2011
10. Canon camera set
11. Off-White x Nike Blazers
12. Off-White x Nike Hypderdunks
13. Nike Jordan 1 Reverse Shattered Backboards
14. iPhone 11 Pro Max
15. 2008 Dodge Caravan
16. Boosted Board V3 Plus
17. 15" Macbook Pro 2017
18. Electric Bike Food Truck
19. 2006 Mini Cooper Convertible
20. Diamond and sapphire necklace
21. Peloton V3 Bike
22. 2006 Ford Mustang GT Deluxe
23. 2011 Jeep Patriot
24. Wildbound tiny cabin
25. Honda CR-V
26. Three tractors
27. Chipotle celebrity card
28. Off-the-grid trailer with Tesla Powerwall 2
29. House in Nashville, Tennessee