I like your idea of paying attention to what space is left in the mix as i tend to add a sound if it sounds good for the track i.e many sounds lol and do not take into consideration if a sound is already covering that part of the mix i.e the bottom end

You talk about panning, I will tend to pan sounds all over the shot (trying to make space in the mix and not just randomly) so should I be looking to use stereo field rather than panning each individual sound? A mixture of both?
Is it wise to fully pan one sound to the left and another to the right?

Will this allow me to create depth within my track?