Hello
To reduce the gap above these items further you can also add the following (default: 42px)...
.container_spacer4 {
height: 22px;
}
For the space below you can add the following (default: 0)..
#footer-2 {
margin-bottom: -20px;
}
Sorry to say there is no set pattern in removing padding as the padding caries depending on the position of the module. A handy feature you could try is the 'Remove Padding' option in the 'Module Widths' tab of your templates parameters.
Ciarán