I've bought lots of shit in bitcoin's short history, but now I only have <10.  So I'm gonna hold for a while.  At some point I'll cash out... my current goal is when I have enough to pay off my house I'll do it.  If I get the "money burning a hole in my pocket" feeling before then I'll hold out until I can buy a new sailboat in the $50k range. 
 
But somewhere along the line I'll probably see a really sweet gun I want for around $10k and will probably bail for that

I'm in the market for a sailboat, I'd probably buy a used trailer-sailer.  (used MacGregor 26M).
 
That's what I'd do with "free" 25btc!

you can buy amazon gift cards from gyft.com with bitcoins.
 
That's what I do

Instead, buy a .22 rifle, about 10,000 rounds of ammo, some prepping supplies, and be ready for the US when its economy finally crashes.
 
the .22 can be used to hunt or self-defense, it's small and easily portable, and you can trade the .22 ammo like currency.

 
I have recently (last three paychecks - 6 weeks) stopped contributing to my 401k and instead using the allocation to buy bitcoins.  It's not much, I can only afford $100/paycheck, but I'm going touching those coins like my 401k unless I absolutely have to.  My wife said I could do it for a year and we'll reevaluate at the end of the year to see if I should go back to traditional 401k or still do bitcoins.

Here's my story.  I buy tangible goods with btc.  I'm not a speculator, I'm not a hoarder.  I just get "things" that I can touch and feel.  I feel this way about money as well - money is only as good as the things you can do with it.
 
So....
 
I've gone through approx 300 btc in my history, and have less than 10 to my name now.  I got in when having a 5770 for mining was "decent", but took me a while to figure things out.   I sold some btc when they hit $30 (back in 2011) and bought a nice new gaming computer case and some new computer hardware.  Then mined more, and bought an AR-15 (piecemeal, not the whole unit) and some paintball gear.  Also bought some more hardware (gaming is my hobby, and mining btc is/was just an "aside" for the computer to do something while it's sitting idle).  Prior to mining what little bit I have, I would use my  machine for things like distributed.net, SETI@home, etc, etc.  So mining was just something cool to do to possibly make a little bit of money.
 
I also bought some gemstones with btc, and made a pendant/necklace for my wife to wear.   it's all 4 of our birthstones (hers, mine, kids).  I think I spent 30btc at the time for those gemstones.  I've traded for Amazon credit as well, and used that to buy some gun parts and ammo.  And finally, the latest and "best" purchase of all (which takes me below 10) was I recently bought a Mossberg 590a1 shotgun, and a Beretta NEOS, all bought from a user here on the forums with bitcoins.
 
So yeah, am I sad that I'm not currently sitting on 300btc ()?  A little. I could pay off my house.   But I'm satisfied for participating in the bitcoin economy, and have 3 cool guns that I didn't buy with "real money" (my wife's words), and some other odds and ends that I wouldn't have been able to purchase otherwise.
 
That's my story!

Another option is if you start feeling any guilt, wait until you've doubled your money, then pay back your college fun, and you'll have "free" money to let you "start over" with your initial investment.

This proves bitcoin is on its way.  I remember not 3 years ago and people were adding on a premium if you were using bitcoin.  Sort of a "yeah I'll use it, but you're paying a little extra".  And now discounts for using it?  Awesome

Watch for trends and take advantage of it.   If it surges around noon, and dips in the evening, then sell some coins during the day, and buy them back in the wee hours of the morning

Where are they based at?  Sounds like someone needs to go visit them personally.

I think the OP was asking what would we do right now.  Like pretend your coins were wiped out, and you're starting over, but using past knowledge/experience.  So the websites are still already up, the mining is at current difficulty, etc, etc. 
 
Buy coins. Buy as much as you can afford to, even if you have to space it out (like me) according to budget. 

Well, I recently (two paychecks ago) stopped contributing to my 401k and am using the money normally allocated for that to buying bitcoins.     Right now that allocation is only $100 per paycheck (money is tight, wife lost her job and we have small kids), but soon as we get on our feet I'm going to up my allocation.
 
So yeah, I wish I had done that when I first entered the market.    I've so far doubled my investment in a month's time   Not saying that'll continue to happen, necessarily, but the trend is that it's a very good investment.

Namecoin is the only alt coin worth supporting.  The others were created because their creators missed the money train with bitcoins and are hoping to create an artificial market and get rich.

This.  Two paychecks ago I stopped contributing to my 401k (I wasn't really making shit anyway) and contribute that money to buying bitcoins.  It's only about $100 per paycheck (all I can afford with this economy), and told my wife that if I get nervous after a year I'd go back to my 401k.  But I have a feeling I made the right decision

I'm one of the satisfied customers, but I bought from him way back when he first started.  So while I'm a happy customer, these other stories are giving me pause about repeat business.

I've used some of my wife's hydrocodone to fall asleep when I have a bad cold and can't do so on my own

If you like guns, btc are now worth something that you can start looking at and buying guns for 1btc.
 
You'll be looking at cheaper brands, such as Hi-Point, but one btc could buy you one right now.  Maybe a little bit more for shipping.  There's a user on here (SphereScape Corp) with an FFL license who can likely get one for you.
 
And, of course, as btc goes up in value, more options are available to you in terms of higher quality/value guns.
 
Hi Points are OK, however, don't let the "cheaper" fool you.  I've shot my brother's 9mm hi point, and it felt really good in my hands.
 
Go to a local dealer to hold some, and then send this guy a message.  Tell him I sent you!  I've bought two firearms from him already
 
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=142696
 

I would be interested if:
 
1. the card never asked for any identifying information. So like a standard gift card, but pre-registered, turn-key
2. I could use it for either credit/debit purchase and/or ATM withdrawals
3. There was no fraud-detection protection built in.  It's swipe and go.   I wouldn't want to get annoying calls saying "the fraud detection unit thinks your purchase of 100 Thai whores isn't a legit purchase, please confirm or deny so we know if we need to cancel the card."   
4.  No limit (or a very high limit), nothing retarded like $500

I purposely missed the boat, because I was never sure if the boat was going to sink or float.  I typically held on to them long enough to buy what I wanted at the time.
 
But I'm a small fish, I've gone through (net) approx 350btc during my time here.  I have 5 left.   But what I *did* get was to turn those btc into tangible things (essentially what money does) that my wife would never let me purchase with "real money." 
 
So am I sad?  A little, but not enough to jump off a building or anything, 'cause I some sweet guns and gun accessories, all of which would have been nixed from the get-go if I had used "real" money (her words).

I'm still mining, albeit really slowly.