A tumble drier is pretty much essential with a winter baby if you dont want your house full of drying washing. I don't know what we'll do. Maybe go to the parents and use theirs?!
Our cloth nappies are for sale for £125 if anyone can use them, we did research and found them to be the best for us as they grow with the baby, you pay a one off fee from newborn to potty trained at 2-3 rather than having to buy more as they grow, also bamboo is very absorbent www.closeparent.com/Popininfoandadvice/Popininstructions/tabid/279/Default.aspx
New these ones work out at the same cost as 6 months of reusable nappies (I think that was £250 at the time we calculated it). Newborn disposable nappies are the cheapest kind but you'll get through several a day, if not more, and when the baby gets bigger they get more expensive and become fewer per pack.
Obviously you have to factor in the unknown cost of a wash. At first we did a hot wash every other day as we used 10 a day. Then as he got a few months older we used fewer, and washed every 3-4 days. So it becomes cheaper as the baby grows. But its not onerous. You'll do more washing of babies clothes, towels, flannels and muslins than you will nappies.
As for the smell its really not bad. Your own babies nappies arent as bad as you'd think, especially if bf, although we ff and they were fine. You dispose of the liner which catches the solids, down the loo or into a nappy bag, so its the same as disposables.
The only thing you'll need for a winter newborn (mine was summer) is more liners to shells if you dont have a tumble drier as they take a day to dry outside. If you have a tumble drier the liners take a couple of hours on low. The shells dry very quickly on an airer.
Sadly we have no room for a washing line or a tumble drier and with having our second dc, we won't be able to use the 20 we have, which is enough for one baby full time in reusables.
If anyone is interested in finding out more, inbox me?