We had a lidded bucket, dump any solids into the toilet, fold any remaining mess inside, put in bucket. We primed the bucket with water into which we put tea-tree oil (for scent and disinfectant purposes). Some people will use the toilet as a pre-rinse; never did it myself.

We used nappy liners, a piece of paper to catch the worst of the poo. And 'wraps' on the outside. The nappies had poppers; you could popper them differently as they grew.

On wash day, empty the water from the bucket into the toilet, lift the nappies individually into the [front-loading] washing machine.

We bought our cloth nappies on eBay, already second-hand. We passed them on still usable years afterwards.

I did start potty training as soon as they went on solids, well before they could sit unaided! We used baby-sign, and I tried a couple of elimination communication techniques. Baby-sign was great, they could tell us they needed potty before they could talk; first child even made a new toilet sign to differentiate between wee/poo.

We had compostable nappies for times when we needed them - too rainy to dry clothes, too sleepy, backup for when they wee/poo on the nappy as you're putting it on them when you're out and about.

Only thing we'd wash with the nappies was soiled clothing (baby grows) or towels we'd lie on the bed to change their nappy on. A month or so in we got a changing table (Ikea).