West Michigan Wedding Venue Now Part of One Man’s Mission to Trade His Way Out of Student Debt

A Georgia man is gaining major traction on social media as he works to trade his way up to paying off around $219,000 in student debt.

The man, who simply goes by Jake, started this quest a little over two months ago and has successfully made it to his fourth item to trade - a wedding package at a West Michigan venue.

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The overall total of money that Jack owes is the accumulation of twelve different student loans, ranging from just over $2,750 to nearly $38,561.

He did a breakdown of those loans and his plan for repayment on TikTok on April 23.

If this story sounds vaguely familiar to you, you're not crazy. Back in 2006, a Canadian blogger named Kyle started with a single red paperclip and managed to trade his way up to a house in just 14 trades (over the span of about a year).

Georgia Man Trading His Way Out of Student Loan Debt One Trade at a Time

The saga began on February 14, 2025, with trade number one - a massage gun.

It took until February 25 for Jake to give the update that he had officially locked in a trade. He would be trading the massage gun to a person who found his story on TikTok.

READ MORE: Turns Out, Almost Anyone Can Officiate a Wedding in Michigan

But there was a catch. He actually didn't know what he was going to be getting in return. It was going to be a surprise when it arrived in the mail.

Thankfully, the trade paid off for him, and when the surprise trade item showed up at his house on March 4, he was pleasantly surprised to find a brand new iPad inside the box.

From there, trade number two began - a brand new iPad for something worth more.

Twenty days later, on March 24, Jake updated his followers that he had found his next trade. Someone traded him a brand new black Versace watch for the iPad.

The value of the watch? Around $1,200.

The watch was a great get for Jake, but what would be next? Well, I'm sure that he didn't expect for it to be something that would have him talking about a place right here in West Michigan.

Wedding Venue in Coral, Michigan Now Part of Man's Mission to Trade His Way Out of Student Debt

On April 19, nearly a month after his last trade, Jake announced that he got a very interesting trade offer. And that offer came from Hilltop Memory Makers in Coral, Michigan.

They offered Jake a complete wedding package (valued at around $6,450) for the watch. The package includes use of the farmhouse on the property, use of one of five different ceremony sites on the property, and use of the barn reception space. As an added bonus, Lexi, the owner of the venue, is a professional photographer who offered up a free one-hour photo shoot.

Obviously, this is a very specific experience. It will likely need to go to a person who lives in Michigan who is looking to get married, or someone who would like to do a destination wedding in West Michigan.

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I wish Jake the best of luck and look forward to seeing the trades that he makes going forward. You can follow along with his whole journey on TikTok.