How do I modify the setBounds method for JComponents?

I wish to create a certain method that can help speed me up in GUI design. I take longest in using setBounds. Now, I would just go for FlowLayout or GridLayout but I don't like being to reliant on those.

Basically, I am thinking of a method like placeAbove, which places a JComponent above another JComponent. Its arguments would be the reference point JComponent and an integer for their distance from each other. I am currently having success with the following:

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;

public class BoundBender extends JFrame {
    public BoundBender() {
        Container c = getContentPane();
        c.setLayout(null);

        JLabel l1 = new JLabel("Reference Point");
        JLabel l2 = new JLabel("Above Label");
        JLabel l3 = new JLabel("Below Label");
        JLabel l4 = new JLabel("Before Label");
        JLabel l5 = new JLabel("After Label");

        c.add(l1);
        l1.setBounds(170, 170, 100, 20);
        c.add(l2);
        placeAbove(l1, 0, l2);
        c.add(l3);
        placeBelow(l1, 10, l3);
        c.add(l4);
        placeBefore(l1, 20, l4);
        c.add(l5);
        placeAfter(l1, 30, l5);

        setVisible(true);
        setSize(500, 500);
    }
    public static void main (String args[]) {
        BoundBender bb = new BoundBender();
        bb.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    }
    public static void placeAbove(JComponent j, int a, JComponent k) {
        int x= j.getX();
        int y= j.getY();
        int w= j.getWidth();
        int h= j.getHeight();

        y=(y-h)-a;

        k.setBounds(x, y, w, h);
    }
    public static void placeBelow(JComponent j, int a, JComponent k) {
        int x= j.getX();
        int y= j.getY();
        int w= j.getWidth();
        int h= j.getHeight();

        y=y+h+a;

        k.setBounds(x, y, w, h);
    }
    public static void placeBefore(JComponent j, int a, JComponent k) {
        int x= j.getX();
        int y= j.getY();
        int w= j.getWidth();
        int h= j.getHeight();

        x=(x-w)-a;

        k.setBounds(x, y, w, h);
    }
    public static void placeAfter(JComponent j, int a, JComponent k) {
        int x= j.getX();
        int y= j.getY();
        int w= j.getWidth();
        int h= j.getHeight();

        x=x+w+a;

        k.setBounds(x, y, w, h);
    }
}

However, I want to make it as simple as l2.placeAbove(l1, 0), because that third argument feels inefficient. So any suggestions? And please use understandable terminologies.

Then use the return value thereof. Instead of being void return an instance of Rectangle. It would look something like:

    public static Rectangle placeAbove(JComponent j, int a) {
    int x= j.getX();
    int y= j.getY();
    int w= j.getWidth();
    int h= j.getHeight();

    y=(y-h)-a;

    //return our new bounds projected in a Rectangle Object
    return new Rectangle(x, y, w, h); 
}

And then the use case would be setting the bordering Rectangle:

k.setBounds(placeAbove(j, a));

That way you use the setBounds(Rectangle r) inherited from java.awt.Component in JComponent.

Hope this helps!