Kiwi households are spending their money on spades, pets, and packaged leaf salad, but are no longer as likely to purchase indoor plants, tennis racquets and video cameras.
Statistics New Zealand today released the latest review of the consumers price index (CPI), which gives an insight into what households across the country are purchasing.
The CPI basket is made up of 709 items, which are used to measure the rate of price change of goods and services purchased by households.
The basket is reviewed by Statistics New Zealand every three years, to ensure it remains representative of household purchases.
In the latest review, 15 new items have been added to the basket and 12 have been removed.
New items in this year's CPI basket included cider, spades, frozen prawns, plywood and packaged leaf salad, prices manager Chris Pike said.
Dog adoptions, kittens and dog licences were also new to the basket this year, as the scope of the CPI has been extended to include pets.
Because of declining expenditure, items such as men's tracksuit bottoms, squash club membership, indoor plants, tennis racquets and video game hire have removed from the basket.
Video cameras and e-book readers have also been removed.
Mr Pike said this may be because people are using their mobile phones and tablets for reading and shooting video.
As well as reviewing basket items, their relative importance in household spending was also reviewed.
Since the 2011 review, the relative importance of housing and household utilities has increased, reflecting increased spending on housing rentals, property rates and related services and household energy.
"The share of household spending going on housing and household utilities has traditionally been the biggest area of spending, and since 2011, this share has continued to increase," Mr Pike said.
"Households now spend on average $24 out of every $100 on this."
Mr Pike said it was important to continue to update the CPI basket, so it accurately reflected what people were spending their money on.
New basket items for 2014:
Packaged leaf salad
Frozen prawns
Breakfast food drinks
Cider (off licence)
Women's casual dress (summer)
Women's casual dress (winter)
Silicone sealants
Plywood
Spades
Urban ferry services
Kittens
Cat adoption
Dog adoption
Dog licences
Property valuation for insurance purposes