Header/Slider issues

So, I managed to delete the title, tagline and social icons from my customiz’d website, but there is still a lot of empty space with a grey bar in it above my slider. The slider and featured pages take up SO much room- I’d like new visitors to see blog posts “above the fold”, so to speak!

I did manage to make my slider shorter, which is good; I still have playing with it to do. But I’d also like to decrease the white space above the slider and between the slider and the featured pages, as well as make the featured pages pictures smaller and possibly the text as well. Honestly, just getting rid of the unnecessary white space would probably make everything work pretty well for me.

Before you tell me to use a child theme, I have considered it, but I have no experience with it and this is the only change to the CSS I anticipate making. I just want to see if anyone has a solution before I go gallivanting off on an escapade that will eat a lot of time.

Here’s the custom CSS I’m currently using(notes from the coder, not me):

/* Site Title & Logo               */
.brand a            {display:none;}
/* Logo                 */
.tc-header .brand   {display:none;}
/* Social Icons         */
.social-block a     {display:none;}
/* Tagline              */
.navbar-wrapper .navbar h2, h2.site-description  {display:none;}
/* Navbar               */
.navbar .nav        {display:none;}
/* Navbar box           */
.navbar .navbar-inner {
-webkit-box-shadow: none;
-moz-box-shadow:    none;
box-shadow:         none;
background:         none;
-webkit-box-shadow: none;
-moz-box-shadow:    none;
box-shadow:         none;
}

#customizr-slider.carousel .item {
height: 400px;
min-height: 400px;
line-height: 400px;
}

/*Reduce vertical space between slider and feature circles*/
#main-wrapper {
  margin-top: 1px;
  margin-bottom: 1px;
}
.marketing {
margin-top: 0px;
}
.marketing .span4 + .span4 {
    margin-top: 10;
}

/*Reduce space between features and buttons*/
.fp-text-one {
	margin: 0;
	}
.fp-text-two {
	margin: 0;
	}
.fp-text-three {
	margin: 0;
	}

I would be happy to link to my site, but it is adult.

Thank you for your thoughts!