I suppose the real answer, especially for the newbies, is to keep exploring dummy bookings [i.e. don't go as far as actually paying anything!! ] and have a sheet of paper to compare the options in the context of ££/$$, Miles and those critical TPs.

Only you can judge whether it's worth paying a bit extra for a flight to earn TPs. But Silver is a good place to be, especially if you maximise the Miles benefits by doing an MFU to CW.

In our case, the benefits of Silver are worth the occasional short TP run ... or even [aaarrrggghhh] a Winter break in the Caribbean