unbalancing and usage of water

I expect my appliances to work for me - to make life easier and to be able to multi task while the clothes wash.  However, with the Maytag Centennial, I have to monitor the machine as though it were a naughty child.  I have read the instruction book over and over only to discover I am doing everything correctly according to recommendations.  However, it gets out of balance regularly.  I have to time the cycles to be sure that each cycle is complete and has spun and drained properly.  I discovered shortly after purchasing the machine that it could run for hours and never get finished - filling and draining the water over and over again.  Hence I basically stayed in the laundry room  and discovered that the machine got out of balance over and over again.  Frequently I have just pulled half of even a medium load out of the machine dripping wet and then rebalanced the clothes.  I stay in the laundry room to be sure that the load finishes properly.  With the California drought and water rationing, this has been a particularly irritating problem.  The machine washes fine and finally does spin nicely, however, this machine was a bad purchase.