From A Paperclip To A House
I'm sure we've all heard about the one red paperclip project by now. If not, it's the story of one man's quest to turn a paperclip in to a house, via a series of trades. Like the "Million Dollar Homepage" this is one of those ideas that everyone wishes they had first 
For example, he traded the paperclip for a pen, the pen for a doorknob… etc, trading up for better items each time.
Well, I've just been reading the BBC News website, and it seems that he's done it!
It took Kyle exactly a year of 14 internet trades to move from the paper clip to a house on Main Street in the tiny town of Kipling in Saskatchewan province - a place he has never been to before.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5167388.stm
THOSE TRADES IN FULL
One red paper clip
Novelty pen
Ceramic doorknob
Camping stove
1,000-watt generator
Beer keg with neon sign
Snowmobile
Trip to Yakh
A large van
One recording contract
One year rent-free in Phoenix
Afternoon with Alice Cooper
Snow globe
Hollywood movie role
House in Kipling
This guy had an idea, and instead of just dismissing it as something that would never work, he put it in to action - I'm sure we can all learn something from what he achieved 
Comment by burt — July 12, 2006 @ 4:23 pm
I mentioned this guy in a comment a few months back;
Impressive that he managed to do it!
Comment by Oli Allen — July 12, 2006 @ 5:38 pm
I was sure there was something mentioned about him here before, but I couldn't find it
Comment by dreamscape — July 12, 2006 @ 7:21 pm
Actually he's not the first to have an idea like this. People do stuff like this on craigslist all the time, and I'm sure other sites as well. Not to mention that this is how people got the items they wanted in the time before money existed.
The main difference is, this guy was willing to spend a lot of money — er, his parent's money I should say — to go to wherever the person was that had something to trade.
Comment by James — July 13, 2006 @ 6:12 am
Did this as a game once. Two teams started with one penny each going house to house. One team ended up with an old table, the other a set of tires 30 minutes later.
Funny what people will trade for.