How to manipulate the X and Y axis easily?

So, are there any keyboard keys that can allow me manipulate the X and Y axis to position certain items in a puppet correclty and easily?  and faster??

Using the dragging arrows with the mouse is not always easy as I run out of room to move an item up, down, left, right....

Typing the number of pixels I want to move it is often a guessing game. 

It would be nice to just click on the timing clock and then just drag the entire item to the position you want for the next frame. 

I for example have items that are flying in and out of the screen and just get them in and out is a guessing game with the typing pixels, and dragging arrows doesn't give you much room to keep on dragging them.