By the way, a restricted domestic ticket is not necessarily the best value. About double those miles will get you a restricted ticket to Europe, which could (depending on where you're flying from/to) cost at least three times as much in cash as a domestic ticket would in cash.

If using it domestic, hold on to it for an expensive destination (not a major destination where everyone has sales all the time) during a time other than "high demand" (ie, not Christmas, not Thanksgiving, not spring break), etc. I view 25k for a $300ish fare a poor rate of exchange, but last year I found that LAX-JAC (Jackson Hole WY, for Grand Teton/Yellowstone) was $600ish on any June dates I wanted to travel, but found 25k availability no problem. That I considered a more reasonable use of 25k miles.

Are you a member of MileagePlus Dining? That'll get you UA miles climbing slowly but very steadily, assuming you live in a reasonable-size metro area. (It's hard to be specific about recommendations when you provide no information about where you're based, what ways you already earn UA miles, etc.)