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Man Trades Paperclip for One Year's Free Rent

When we last left Kyle MacDonald he had managed to trade his red paperclip for several items. His last trade back in November was a red generator for an instant party. Since then his trades have included items like a skidoo and a trip to Yahk. And now the clever trader has worked his way up to one year's free rent at a rental house.

After a cross-continental trading trek involving a fish-shaped pen, a town named Yahk and the Web's astonishing ability to bestow celebrity, MacDonald is getting close. He's up to one year's free rent on a house in Phoenix.

Not a bad return on an investment of one red paper clip. Yet MacDonald, 26, vows to keep going until he crosses the threshold of his very own home, wherever that might be.

"It's totally overwhelming, I'm not going to lie," he said by phone from Montreal, where he and his girlfriend, Dominique Dupuis, live with two roommates. "But I'm still trading for that house. It's this obsessive thing."

Good for Kyle. He has almost achieved his original goal: "I'm going to keep trading for bigger or better things until I get a house." He has a house for one year. Will he be able to achieve his ultimate goal of owning a home? You can keep up with Kyle's trading at his blog.

Posted on April 22, 2006

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