So I’m at work, some years back, doing carpentry, and my belt breaks.  No big deal really.   It was a cheap belt, but now pants are loose and falling down, one of my pet peeves.   Doing my best McGyver, I take a micro bungee cord, around 6″ long and connect it between a couple of the belt loops on the back half of my pants.  Wow, it’s not too tight, and yet it keeps my pants up.

After a short while, I realize that not only does it work, it works better than that darn belt ever did.  Bend at all, and the elastic flexes, where the belt just squeezes you like a clamp.  Then I notice that since it’s on the back of my pants, I can easily unbutton the things without undoing any belt apparatus.  Another win for the bungee.

So what then is the issue?  Well, it’s just not socially acceptable to have a bungee cord attached to your pants.  It’s also not acceptable to have elastic wasted pants as an adult.  So to be both functional AND fashionable, this brings me to today’s solution.  A flat elastic band, with a flat plastic or metal hook at each end.  (Imagine, until I get around to being able to illustrate these posts, that a flat hook that was similar in size to your belt loop) The hooks would go around 2 of your belt loops in the rear of your pants / shorts, and being of similar shape and size as the loops, they wouldn’t stick out very much at all.  Additionally, you could make the whole assembly to match the pants in question, and then they would really blend in, being nearly impossible to see, and since we all wear our shirts out these days, no one will see it anyway.

Truly, instant elastic waistband.