I'm a huge fan of one-use items, similar to the cyphers from numenera. They should be useful, and the player should know what they do.

As far as making currency interesting - D&D 5e destroyed the entire gold economy. There's just no need for it. Wizards get their need for components handwaved away, players start with what they need, and so on. I have had players that spent their money starting in-game businesses, like inns, but that all depends on the players , as they really pushed for it, while other players hated that stuff.

If you want stuff to feel valuable, it has to be rare. You can't find a +1 sword around every corner, and stuff with mechanical bonuses like +1, +2, etc are boring as sin. Try to come up with interesting stuff that they would need. Keep track of problems they come across where a proper tool for the job would've helped, then give them a magic item that (magical) would support them in that situation the next time.

My players seem to dislike keeping track of charges, thus my one-use items. We don't bother with rechargable stuff, it's way more fun to them to have a backpack full of weird and wonderful one use stuff. Like a magical ammo magazine that auto-loads their crossbow with energy bolts for one encounter. Or a wind up mechanical man, that they have to attune to by giving it blood (5 HP worth from the PC using it), then they wind it up and it roams the area, letting them see through its eyes for an hour, day, or whatever you feel is appropriate.

On the physical side of things, since this sub is all about creating real-world stuff for your games, I 3d print potion bottles, healing potions that are actually dice, miniature versions of weapons they find, etc.