I bet most of us who start with decent (i.e. real) garter belts and stockings stick with 'em.

Too true, too true. Also with the underwear-on-the-outside trick. I had to figure that one out on my own (wearing them on the sly and all), but I always find it sort of astounding that when I try to share this tip with other friends who are trying out stockings and garters (on a lark, rather than out of serious consideration for switching, usually), they just think I'm crazy. I guess it's been so inculcated in recent generations of women that underwear is always the closest garment to your body, underneath everything else, that even if putting a garter belt underneath doesn't affect the function of underwear, they just can't conceive of doing so. And then they wonder why garters are so "inconvenient"!