value or not?

Yuval Noah Harari writes in Sapiens, "For decades, aluminum was much more expensive than gold.  In the 1860s, Emperor Napoleon III of France commissioned aluminum cutlery to be laid out for his most distinguished guests. Less important visitors had to make do with the gold knives and forks."

Value is not intrinsic to an item or a service. It's made up based on cultural beliefs we buy into together.  Think Netherlands tulip craze that imploded, think sugar price drop from the Middle Ages to now. In our culture we believe that time is precious, so precious that American employers give very little of it away for vacation and personal time off, while indigenous people, even though their lives are often shorter than ours, seem to have lots of it to sit around a campfire telling stories or making music together, and Europeans get six weeks vacation on top of all of their religious holidays.  We also believe that money is scarce since we love a good bargain and  try to pay as little as possible for our acquisitions.  

Now we laugh at Napoleon III's "precious" aluminum cutlery, but it goes to show how values come and go, and are based on scarcity, perceived or actual.  Value is really a made-up story.  Your values may be slightly different from mine, so that I might spend more money on things that you might not value the same way I do, and vice versa.  I think some luxury cars are cool looking, but would not spend the money on one.  I'm totally fine with a utilitarian car in which I can transport all of my recycling items to the various drop-off points, and my (sometimes) mud caked organic produce fresh from the farm to home, without fear of messing up my car.  I value my health first and foremost since my life depends on it, hence I value highest the best food and the best healing services I can pay for.

What do you spend your money on?  What do you value?  What do you not value?  What do you not spend your money on?