Hiya,
We use the old fashioned flat terry cloth nappies, both at home and when out, and I have to say I have no worries with them, and they don't take any time at all. I just chuck them in a nappy bucket in the bathroom (no soaking solution) and then every 1-2 days, I stick a load in the machine on a 60c wash and they come up lovely. Every so often I might throw in some napisan with the detergent, but not on a regular basis. The biggest issue I have is getting them dry in the wet weather. I always have a pack of disposables in and a couple in the change bag, jic, but i much prefer the cloth nappies.
I use PUL covers from Baby beehinds and find they're great. Have a look in the nappy forum for other people's preferences - there's a huge world of cloth nappies now.
Even when my DD was a newborn, I didn't find them a struggle.

hth