I usually wear shorts 8 - 9 months of the year. For long pants, I make sure they have a decent sized hem. I cut a slit in the hem and put elastic in, whip the elastic closed and sew the slit closed. I don't have to worry about the material shrinking and having high water pants. I can hem a pair of pants in less than 10 minutes this way.
I do look as if I'm wearing harem pants, but at my age I don't care. Having pants hemmed this way keeps the cold out in the winter (cold in New Orleans?
) and the mosquitos out in the summertime.