It might sound silly to you, but a long time ago when dollar bills and coins were not yet invented people used many different things as currency.  For example...............In some parts of Mexico, natives would use soap for money.  And the Aztecs would use cocoa beans as currency.

Tea Money 

To make this particular type of currency, Russians would compress tea in to bricks, and add sawdust with the tea so that it would not fall apart.  They used this for money in Russia, Tibet, and China, and the government finally abolished it in 1970.

Salt Money  

In ancient times, Roman soldiers were often paid in salt.  Salt was valued because of its flavoring, and people could also use it to preserve food.

    In the 1960's, people in the African Congo who worked on the roads were paid in buckets of salt, because it was very scarce, and the necessity to flavor a vegetable diet.  It was also necessary for these people because when you sweat, you sweat out a lot of your natural body salt, that you must have in order to live.  That is why the road-workers in the African Congo were paid in salt.

Tooth Money

In many places throughout the world teeth were used as money in times long ago.  In the Solomon and Bismarck islands the people would string dogteeth together as a form of currency.  In the Fiji islands the people also used such as whale teeth or the jawbone of a fruit bat.